Here, There, and Everywhere
by Lady Carmilla Sanguina
Summary: PERMANENT HIATUS SORRY! When Adena moves to England to go to Hogwarts, she only has her mother. Luckily though, she meets a group of friendly, and handsome, boys who take her under their wing. Romance is just bound to break out, don't you think?
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer** I own nothing you recognize. Be smart, I think you know the difference between what's mine, and what's Jo's. If not, go away.

**-Chapter One-**

Adena Sanguina was first and foremost, the new girl. No matter how many times she corrected people, they still continued to refer to her as 'The New Girl.' And sometimes they'd switch it up and call her 'The American.'

Because, you see, Adena _was_ a new student, from America. When her father died, her mother, Adelaide, who had been from England originally, had decided that they should move back. She had felt that there were too many memories in the States. So, in what would have been the beginning of her seventh year at Salem Academy, Adena started at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, instead.

She was excited for the first time in a long time when she'd found out they were moving. She agreed that there were too many memories in America. And besides that, she had always just loved Europe; they used to vacation there when she was younger, before her father got sick. It was one of her favourite places to be.

So, when her mother escorted her to Diagon Alley in London, Adena was teeming with excitement. She walked a very fast pace through Muggle London, not wanting to waste any time. When they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, her mother led her to the back, and showed her how to get into the alley. Adena quickly memorized it, and continued on into Diagon Alley.

"C'mon," her mother said, "we need to get your books, Darling."

Adena followed her mom through the crowds of witches and wizards that filled the street. They passed a cute little ice cream parlor called Florean Fortescue's, where there were a few groups of teens laughing and enjoying the weather. She envied them quietly wishing that she had some friends that she could have met with here, but she didn't, as she'd left them all in the U.S.

They passed a particularly rambunctious group of teens outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. The group consisted of four boys. The tallest of the group had messy black hair, and it was obvious why, as he rumpled it every now and then. He wore wire rimmed glasses and his deep smile reached all the way up to the dazzling hazel eyes that lay beneath them. The next boy had longish brown hair that hung slightly into his face; his eyes were a smoky grey, Adena saw, as he threw back is head in laughter. Next to him was an equally handsome boy who had sandy blonde hair and deep blue eyes, he seemed to be more shy than the first two. The last boy was perhaps, the oddball of the group. He did not posses the same looks as the others. He was short, and rather stout. He had light hair and watery blue eyes, and he seemed to hang on every word the others said.

The boy with the glasses seemed to sense Adena's gaze, as he turned as he turned and looked around, his eyes finally landing on her. He smiled cockily and turned back to his friends, where he seemed to have told them of his findings, as they proceeded to turn and look at her. His friend with the long dark hair grinned, and Adena positively blushed, turning to keep up with her mom.

Once they'd reached their destination Adena took out the list of books she'd be needing. With her mother's help, she easily located every book on the list. After paying, they left the bookstore to find the apothecary, so that she could restock her potion ingredients.

Once they had obtained everything Adena would need for the start of term, her and her mother decided to stop at the ice cream parlor they'd passed on the way in.

"Well, it looks like you've got everything you need, Addy," her mother informed her, consulting the list.

Adena could tell she was trying to be happy for her; she really was. But she, like Adena, was sad, because they would be parting ways again.

They were best friends. Adena loved her mom more than anything in the world. The feeling was mutual. And the death of her father had brought them even closer.

Adena was worried about leaving her mom to go to school. She didn't want her to have to be all alone in their new flat all day.

"Guess what, Addy?" Adelaide asked her daughter excitedly.

"What, Mum?"

"St. Mungo's wrote back. I have an interview Monday!" She was glowing with excitement.

"That's awesome, Mom!"

"Isn't it?" Adena's mother then drifted off into a dreamy sort of state, she was no doubt, thinking about the possibilities St. Mungo's held for her.

"Mum, I'm going to go look at brooms, alright?" her mother nodded absently.

Adena threw away the cup from her ice cream, and went over to look at the window display of the Quality Quidditch Supply store. She saw the latest model broomstick, and began to read its capabilities on the sign next to it.

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" a voice said from beside Adena, she jumped slightly. She turned to see one of the handsomely tanned boys from earlier.

"Y-Yeah," she said, stuttering slightly.

"Hello," the boy said, flashing a bright grin. "I'm James."

She turned completely to see his smile reach up to his bright hazel eyes; she couldn't help but smile back.

"Adena," she said, outstretching her hand.

James' hand covered Adena's slender hand completely, as he shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Adena," he said, still smiling.

"And you," she replied.

"So, you like Quidditch?" he asked, casually.

"I love it, I was captain of my team back home; in the States," she added fondly.

"America, huh? Well, that explains the accent," he said with a chuckle. Adena blushed lightly.

"Do you play Quidditch?" Adena asked, directing the conversation away from herself.

"Why, yes, Miss Adena, I do. I also captain my team," he said the last quite pompously, but Adena thought it was charming.

"At Hogwarts?"

"Yes, Gryffindor House Quidditch team," he said, proudly. "Are you coming to Hogwarts?"

Adena nodded.

"You'll love it there, especially with me and my friends around," he said, arrogantly.

"I'm sure," she said, with a chuckle. "You certainly are full of yourself, aren't you?"

James looked taken aback.

"It's ok, I like it," Adena informed him, with a grin. "Well, I must get back to my mother. I guess I will see you at school?"

James nodded and they said goodbye before Adena turned back to find her mum.

In the days leading up to her arrival at Hogwarts, Adena was anxious beyond reason. She already had something to look forward to at her new school.

A friend.

She was still worried about her mom, but a certain amount of uneasiness had been lifted when Adelaide had secured herself a job at the wizarding hospital, St. Mungo's. Adena finally felt ok about being excited, knowing her mother would have something to do.

Adelaide awoke her only daughter early on the morning of September 1st. She hadn't been able to sleep much the night before, and wanted to make sure everything she'd been worried about would be fine.

"Ugh, mom, it's only _seven!_" Adena grumbled as her mother pulled her sheets off of her, causing cold air to rush over her body.

"Come on, Adena, don't you want to look good for your first day?" she asked, looking around her daughter's room. "You'll need to shower, and change, and- Oh! Adena! You haven't packed?!"

"…No..." Adena said timidly from beneath her pillow.

"Get up, Addy. We have a lot to do," Adelaide said before leaving. "Come on, I'll make you some coffee."

Adena lay in bed for a few more minutes, before getting up to take a shower. Once she'd showered and dressed, she went out into the kitchen, and was immediately met by the delicious aroma of coffee percolating.

"Mmm, gimme some of that," Adena said, perkily. Her shower had really woken her up, because it had been cold. "Mom, why isn't there hot water in the bathroom?"

"Uh, well, about that…"

"Mom! You said we could afford this," said Adena, worriedly.

"We can, Honey, we can. I just haven't started work yet."

Adena was still worried, but put it aside when she remembered what was happening today.

"If you're sure…"

"I am; I am. But Adena, honey, is _that_ what you're wearing?" Adelaide looked at her daughter's clothes with disdain.

"Mom, I'll have to change into my robes before I even get into the school, anyways," she said, defensively. Adelaide eyed her daughter's old torn jeans, before pouring her some coffee.

The time flew by, and soon they were headed for King's Cross station so that Adena could catch the Hogwarts Express. They hurried into the station, because even though Adelaide had woken her daughter up quite early, they were running late.

They hurried onto the platform, and were confronted with a steaming red train. Adelaide looked up at it fondly.

"I remember my first ride to Hogwarts," she reminisced.

"Mom, I'm not going to get a seat, I have to go," Adena said, hurriedly.

"Yes, alright, honey. I'll miss you so much. Write to me everyday?"

Adena gave her a look.

"Yes, well that's wishful thinking, just write to me," she said with a laugh.

"Of course, Mum. I'll miss you too."

They hugged as the warning whistle blew. Adena looked cautiously at the train, before turning back to give her mother a kiss.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, Hun. Now go get a seat."

With one last sad smile at her mother, Adena boarded the gleaming red train. She looked hopefully around for help, not sure whether or not she was just supposed to jump into a random compartment. She was saved the trouble of asking, when she heard a deep voice behind her.

"And we meet again."

Adena turned to see the ever friendly face of James Potter. The other boys she had seen him with in Diagon Alley tailed behind him. He smiled brightly at her.

"Come on, you must sit with us," he said, happily. Adena didn't object as he took her trunk, and led her to an empty compartment, as she had no where else to go. He took her trunk and hoisted it up into the overhead for her, before sitting casually with his friends.

"Thanks," she said, gratefully.

"No problem," he said, as she sat next to him. "Meet the gang. Marauders, this is Adena."

"Sirius Black at your service," introduced the boy across from her. He was the boy with the longish hair and deep grey eyes. Next to introduce himself was the sandy haired boy.

"Remus Lupin," he said, with a nod, looking tired. Adena smiled politely at him.

"P-Peter Pettigrew," stuttered the last boy, shyly. He was the one that Adena thought didn't belong. But she smiled at him, as well.

"Adena… What does _that_ mean?" asked Sirius, curiously.

"It means 'fire'. And my middle name is Kora, which means 'maiden'-"

"Fire maiden?" he asked with a smirk. "I like it."

Adena couldn't help the blush that crept into her cheeks. She smiled. Luckily, though, James saved her from adding anything else.

"Adena here was the captain of her Quidditch team back in the States," James informed them. Sirius grinned.

"Well, I sure hope you're in our house."

"Yeah, what position do you play?" James asked.

"Beater," Adena said. Sirius brightened.

"Me too!" Sirius said excitedly.

"One of our beaters left us this year, so if you are sorted into Gryffindor, you're welcome to try out," James informed her. Adena perked up a little at this.

"Yeah, and if you're not, then sorry in advance, because our team is going to beat yours every time!" said Sirius, loudly. Adena laughed at that.

"Sure you will."

"I wonder if you'll be sorted with the first years," Remus voiced.

"Oh, man, that would suck. All those little kids everywhere…" Sirius told her, with a slight shudder.

"Um, in the letter I got, the Headmaster said to meet him in his office after the feast, he said I could be sorted then."

"Oh, well that's a relief," said Sirius, actually sounding relieved, causing Adena to smile yet again.

She was very excited about how quickly they had all accepted her, and sincerely hoped she was sorted into their house. Though she had no idea what determined which house you were placed in. She voiced her worry.

"Oh, well there are four houses," James informed her.

"Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and _Slytherin_," Sirius said. "Gryffindor is for courageous people, _like us_."

"Ravenclaw is for people with smarts," Remus informed her. "Hufflepuff holds loyalty-"

"Pansies, if you ask me," Sirius added.

Remus continued as though he hadn't been interrupted, "And Slytherin is for-"

"Prats," said Sirius, cutting in again. Remus glared lightly.

"Slytherin is for the cunning, and sly," he finished.

"In other words, _Prats_," Sirius explained.

"Oh," Adena said, nervously hoping she wasn't going to be placed in Slytherin.

"Don't worry. You don't seem like the Slytherin type," James reassured, sensing her worry. At that moment, their compartment door slid open to reveal a pretty redhead.

"Ah, Evans, miss me?" James asked the girl, causing her emerald eyes to roll.

"No way in hell, Potter," she said. "I just heard you got Head Boy?"

"Why yes, Evans, I did," he said pompously. "And you, I presume, got Head Girl?"

"I-I, yes. Yes I did. _You_ got Head Boy? How is that possible," she asked, looking to Remus for support.

"I don't know, love, but it is," said James with a grin.

"This is going to be a long year," she muttered under her breath. It was then that she noticed there was another girl sitting next to James, listening to them bicker curiously. "Oh, hello, how rude of me, I'm Lily Evans."

Lily extended her hand for the other girl to shake. "Hi, I'm Adena Sanguina-"

"The fire maiden!" Sirius said. Lily looked at Sirius strangely, before turning to look at Adena with pity in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know how you got stuck with these idiots," she comforted. Sirius made a noise that suggested indignance, but was clearly mock.

"They're not too bad," said Adena, defending her new friends.

"Not too bad!? We're the greatest, and you know it, Sanguina!" Sirius said, laughing. Adena couldn't help but crack a smile. Lily sighed.

"Yes, well, you haven't spent the last six years with them," Lily said with a smile. "I would invite you to come to my compartment, to meet my friends, but there's a Prefect meeting that I have to be at. Maybe when I'm done."

"Oh yeah, I have to go to those now don't I?" James whined, causing Lily to sigh with exasperation.

"Yes, Potter, you do, now come on," she commanded. James and Remus both stood, to follow Lily out. Now it was just Adena, Sirius, and Peter.

Adena looked curiously at Peter. "Do you talk, ever?"

Sirius laughed at this. Peter merely blushed, and excused himself.

"He hates you now," Sirius informed her with a grin.

"Well, I don't know, he wasn't talking. It seems… weird compared to you and James."

"Yeah, I suppose it does… So anyways, Fire Maiden, tell me about yourself."

Adena sighed. She already regretted telling Sirius the meaning of her name.

"Well, first off, I would prefer it if you called me Adena, or even Addy. Just _not _Fire Maiden, ok?"

"Whatever you say… Fire Maiden," Sirius said, causing Adena to roll her deep blue eyes. This _was_ going to be a long year.

**AN Alright. I'm baaaaaaaack. How are we liking this? If you read it, please review it. Even if you didn't like it, I don't care. Feedback makes me happy. Good and bad. And everything in the between. Alright. First reviewer gets chapter dedication! Please and thank you. Chapter two shall be up shortly.**

**-Love, L to the C: Lady Carmilla.**


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer:** We all know you know what's mine.

**I dedicate this chapter to:** The girl with no life

**-Chapter Two-**

As Adena watched the first years being sorted, she realized Sirius had been right. And she was _very_ glad that she didn't have to be sorted with them. Sirius and James kept her constantly laughing, though. It was usually at the expense of the students around them, but it kept her highly entertained, and Adena was pretty sure everyone was used to it.

Everyone else around seemed so unfriendly to Adena. She didn't understand it; she looked cautiously around, only to receive glares from almost every direction. Sirius, who was sitting across from her, sensed her uneasiness.

"They're just jealous," he told her, taking her by surprise.

"Jealous…? Jealous of _what_?" she asked as he leaned across the table towards her.

"Why, jealous of _our_ beauty, of course."

Adena cursed herself as she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Oh," she said, making Sirius laugh.

"Well don't be so surprised!" Sirius said, grinning.

Just as Dumbledore wished them goodnight, Adena remembered that she had no idea where his office was. She turned to ask her friends, only to find that they were quite on top of things.

"We'll take you!" James said brightly.

"We know it well," Sirius said with a smirk.

"It's like their home away from home," Remus offered. James laughed.

"It is, isn't it?" he said fondly.

They led her proudly through the crowds of buzzing students, most of which turned to stare at Adena as she was paraded through.

"Look out!" Sirius yelled. "Fire Maiden coming through! Don't make her use her evil fire powers on you!"

Once they'd successfully exited the Great Hall, Adena turned to look incredulously at Sirius.

"_Evil Fire Powers?_" she asked loudly.

"Yeah," he said grabbing her arm and pulling her in front of him, pushing her along the corridor. "I thought you'd like that."

Adena sighed in defeat. She'd never be allowed to live that down.

Soon enough, they were standing in front of two great stone gargoyles. Sirius looked at James

"So, my dear Head Boy, what is the password?" he asked.

"I don't know." They looked at Adena.

"I… Don't remember. It was in the letter… I know it was candy," she added, hoping to help.

"It's _always_ candy!" Sirius said dramatically. Just then, though, the Headmaster himself strode up to them, looking curious.

"Ah, to what do I owe the pleasure, boys? Not in trouble already, I hope?"

"Not yet, Sir," Sirius said, pulling Adena from where she was frozen behind James.

"Ah, Miss Sanguina, welcome," he said, cheerily. "I see you have already made some friends."

"Yes, Sir," she answered politely as the gargoyles stepped aside to reveal a spiral stone staircase.

"Please, come in, come in."

They obliged. Adena looked around in awe, while the others looked unimpressed, as they had each been there on numerous occasions over the years. Adena noticed a phoenix perched magnificently next to the Headmaster's desk. She moved to stroke it lightly, as Dumbledore went to retrieve the hat.

"Nervous?" Remus asked her quietly.

"Yes," she admitted meekly.

"Don't be, you'll be fine," he assured her.

The others had said essentially the same thing to her, more than once, but for some reason she believed it more when Remus said it. She felt mildly better as their Headmaster reentered the room with an old wizard hat in his hands.

"If you'd like to have a seat, Miss Sanguina," he said motioning towards one of the chairs in front of his large mahogany desk. She sat.

"Now there are four-" Dumbledore began.

"I know," Adena said. "…Sir."

They saw a twinkle in the old man's bright blue eyes, and with a light chuckle, he continued.

"Ah, yes well, here you are, then. You just need to put it on."

Adena looked nervously at her friends as Dumbledore placed the tattered old hat upon her head. She froze as she heard a deep, thoughtful voice in her ear.

"Ah, interesting. I wonder, Miss, what your name is?"

"Ad-"

"Ah, yet another Sanguina, I see. Oh, don't be alarmed girl," the hat said scathingly. "I can see it here, in your head. You're going to be a hard one to place, my dear… I see you've got cunning, oh yes. And you're a smart one.

"The offspring of a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw, I see. Well, you would certainly do well in either house…" the hat mused, to Adena's confusion.

She looked over at her friend's anxious faces. Judging by the encouraging smiles she was receiving, they couldn't hear what the hat was telling her about herself. She smiled nervously back at them as the hat continued.

"Ah, courage, of course. Simon's are known for their courage… But I mustn't hold your family against you; you are to be placed where you will do best, so…

"R-!" the hat began.

"No…" she whispered.

"What?" the hat asked amused. "You don't _want_ to be in Ravenclaw? And why not? Ravenclaw's a very respectable house. Why, your own father graduated a-

"Ah, your friends?" the asked knowingly. "Well fine, if you think they're worth that, then I'll have to place you in:

"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted aloud.

James and Sirius began jumping around like children on Christmas as Dumbledore removed the hat from Adena's head. He smiled knowingly at her, his eyes twinkling still.

"Well, it's decided then; a Gryffindor you shall be. Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, would you mind showing Miss Sanguina the way to your tower? There will be a bed opening up shortly. Mr. Potter, if I could have a word with you?"

"Of course, Sir," James said, trying hard to sound more mature than he was acting, once he'd stopped jumping. He turned to Adena and took her by surprise when he hugged her tightly. "Welcome to Gryffindor."

He smiled brightly at her as she left the office with her escorts. Sirius was grinning something huge.

"We're going to have so much fun!" he exclaimed. "We'll be beaters together, and we'll do pranks, and _we'll have so much fun_!"

Adena looked at Sirius with a laugh; he was so like a child at times. So easily amused. She gasped audibly as he wrapped his arms around her middle and lifted her off the ground with a quick spin. She couldn't even help the scream that ensued. He set her safely back on the ground and she was smiling madly. She couldn't wait to write her mother and tell her everything that had happened to her so far.

As they were walking towards Gryffindor Tower, they saw Lily's unmistakable red hair. She smiled warmly as she got closer.

"You haven't ditched them yet, eh?"

"Nope, and she can't ditch us now! She's a Gryffindor!" Sirius told her happily. Lily turned to Adena.

"Congratulations," she said with an even deeper smile.

"Thanks," Adena said, returning the smile.

"I have to go see Dumbledore, but I'll meet you in the Common Room later? You can finally meet my friends… You're new roommates," Lily told her kindly before waving goodbye.

Sirius and Remus led her proudly to the Common Room. Sirius was buzzing anxiously the entire way. Once they reached the portrait hole though, Sirius stopped abruptly, causing Adena to run face first into his back. She bounced backwards with an, "Uf!"

"What?" she asked curiously, only a little annoyed.

"Moony, what's the password?"

"Oh it's… Um… It's… I don't know what it is…"

"Moony! What kind of prefect are you?! I'm ashamed, I hope you know. _Ashamed_!"

"Now what…?" Adena asked.

"Well… Now we wait," Remus said. "Lily and James should be back soon."

"_Wait_?! I don't wanna wait! What if they _never_ come back? What if we have to live out here…? Forever?!" Sirius whined dramatically.

Remus rolled his eyes at the boy. He didn't even bother trying to prove him wrong.

"They shouldn't be _that_ long. Who has the map?"

"Who_ always_ has the map?" Sirius asked in a voice that said it was clearly obvious.

After only a few moments, though, the Head boy and girl came bickering towards them. They couldn't tell what about though, as Lily was mostly whispering, and what James was saying wasn't giving it away at all.

"Come on, Evans! You know I'm trying here," James exclaimed.

Lily answered him with a deadly whisper as her eyes shot daggers. It was then that she turned to find three sets of curious eyes watching them. She blushed deeply.

"What're you guys doing out here?" she asked.

"It's really no wonder this kid wasn't made Head Boy," Sirius explained, pointing at Remus. "The boy's got no idea what the password is!"

Lily sighed, "Come on."

Lily walked forward and supplied the password to the fat lady hastily. She, herself climbed through then motioned for Adena to follow. Once she was through, she completely disregarded the boys behind them and started talking to Adena.

"Come on," she said, leading her towards the fireplace. Towards a couple of girls sitting comfortably on a squishy-looking couch. "Adena, these are my friends... And your new roommates, Julia and Katherine."

Julia was tall and lean she had dark brown hair with eyes to match. She smiled when Lily said her name. Adena smiled back. Katherine had dark blond hair; her eyes were a grey-ish blue color. When she smiled it was to reveal a set of shining white teeth.

"Hi," she said brightly. "You can call me Kat."

"Sure, if you promise to_ not_ call me Fire Maiden," Adena bargained. Lily chuckled at this, while the other two looked confused.

"It's a long-"

"Aha!" someone screamed in her ear. "Excuse me if I'm wrong, but did I just hear you say, 'If you promise to call me Fire Maiden'?"

"You heard wrong, so excuse yourself," she said, making him chuckle.

"Yeah, right," he said before plopping his arse down on the couch between Julia and Kat. "Hello ladies."

Lily gave him a glare before she noticed someone else walk by, ogling the group. Adena sensed it too, as she turned curiously to investigate. Her eyes met with two girls who looked to be her age. One had waist length brown hair with shocking green eyes. The other had shorter reddish blonde hair. She too had green eyes, but they were a much different shade.

"Those are your _other_ roomies," Lily informed her. "Abbi and Bridget."

They paused where they were at the base of the girl's staircase. They looked at Lily with disdain.

"If you're going to talk about us," the blonde said loudly. "At least wait until we leave the room!"

"We weren't talking _about_ you, you dolts, we were telling Adena here who her new roommates were," Kat told them as they looked at her in united confusion.

"_Adena_? Who's Adena?" Abbi asked.

"That'd be me," Adena said as they rushed over to her.

"Ohmigosh, this is _so_ exciting!" Bridget gushed. "We never get new kids. Oh, and you're so pretty! I just _love_ your hair!"

Adena backed up as she tried to touch her soft brown curls.

"Hands off, huh?"

"That's not fair, Evans! Just because you're Head Girl you think you can take the fresh meat," Abbi said, shooting Lily a look. "We don't like that."

"Hey, don't look at me. Potter and Black found her, not me. I had nothing to do with taking 'the fresh meat'."

Abbi and Bridget looked at Sirius, longingly, as he lounged on the couch. While he probably didn't remember it, he had dated them both at one time or another. It had undeniably been the best time of their lives.

"Yep," Sirius said, standing up. "But she only wants to be called Fire Maiden, don't let her fool you, she's just being _shy_."

Adena rolled her pretty blue eyes and Abbi and Bridget looked at her enviously as Sirius swung his arm loosely around her shoulder.

"Padfoot! How dare you?! I thought we had something _special_!" James yelled, walking towards them. He glared at Adena, before breaking into a huge grin. "You're a dirty whore, man. _A dirty, dirty whore_."

After a while Abbi and Bridget left to go skulk in their dorm, annoyed at being ignored, but the rest of them stayed. They stayed down in the Common Room all night, laughing and getting more acquainted. It was most certainly going to be a fun year.

**AN: YEY. Chapter two, kiddies. Like it or not? Review, please my loves. First reviewer gets chapter dedication, and I shall love you foreverrrrrr. xD**

**Love, Lady Carmilla.**


	3. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer:** You know what's mine.

**I dedicate this chapter to:** rockstar-101

**-Chapter Three-**

Over the next few days, Adena experienced Hogwarts head on. It was only Thursday, and she was already having the time of her life. Even though she was at school, which she normally resented, she was just having so much fun.

However, most fun has a price to pay. It was lunchtime, Adena, Sirius and James now sat scattered across the Transfiguration room 'thinking about what they'd done'. As they sat there, they were thinking about it all right. They were thinking about how wicked what they'd done had been.

Sirius had woken earlier that morning thinking he had been in school nearly a week and he had yet to cause any real trouble or pull any real pranks. What's the fun in that?

Sirius rummaged through his trunk, mumbling to himself, "I know… Snivellus… Have… Prank… Boring… Losing our touch… Snivelly… Dr. Filibuster!"

When he'd finally found what he'd been looking for, he pulled it out and turned to his friends with a mischievous glint in his grey eyes.

"Padfoot?" James asked cautiously eyeing the bundle of stuff he held in his arms.

"Don't even think about including me in this," Remus said flatly. He grabbed his bag and turned to leave the dorm. Peter, who'd been frozen in the corner, quickly jumped up and hurried after Remus.

"What a twat," Sirius said, referring to Peter, he turned to James. "You're in, aren't you? You're not going to cop out because of this new Head boy thing, are you?"

"Of course I'm in!" James answered with indignance. "What've you got planned?"

"Let's find Adena."

They found Adena and quickly divulged the nature of their plan, she agreed readily, and they left to find their target.

Within ten minutes, they were laughing hysterically, with tears streaming down their reddened faces as their favorite Slytherin jumped around as fireworks exploded in his pants.

"Mr. Snape! What is the meaning of this?" Professor McGonagall demanded as she watched him jumping around, holding his bottom.

"It… It was them!" he stuttered furiously, pointing at the laughing trio.

"Miss Sanguina! This is hardly the way to start your career here at Hogwarts," she said, her lips thin. "All of you, detention. My room, now!"

"I'm sorry, Professor, but I don't really think I feel comfortable going to your room for detention… We haven't even had a first date!"

She furrowed her brow, "GO!"

"She's a feisty one!" Sirius muttered as they started towards her classroom.

They had been spread apart in the hopes that they wouldn't talk to each other. That was some very wishful thinking.

"Did you see his face?" Sirius asked for the millionth time.

"Yes, 'twas priceless," James said, Adena agreed with a laugh.

"I can't-"

At that moment though, Professor McGonagall reentered the room, lips still thin as ever. They quickly quieted as she walked briskly to the front of the room. She looked at them disapprovingly. They liked to think they hid it well, but she knew they were trying to keep from laughing.

"Miss Sanguina, may I please have a word with you? _Alone_," she added.

"Um, yes?" she answered nervously. Sirius and James got up to sulk out into the hallway to wait.

"I sincerely hope this was a one time thing," she said, grimly. "Potter and Black are good boys, but they're trouble makers. That's just what they do; make trouble. I don't think your mother would approve of your getting in with bad influences."

Adena couldn't believe her ears. "_Bad influences_? They didn't _make_ me do this with them. I wanted to. We were just having fun!"

"Miss Sanguina! Would you please not raise your voice to me," her lips were, if possible, even thinner. "I know your mother personally, and I know she would frown upon this."

"Well thanks for the concern_, Professor_, but I don't care who you know, I can take care of myself. And anyways, you don't _know _what my mother wants me doing! For your information, she wants me to be happy, which I am. So if you don't mind, could you cut this nosy _crap_?"

Adena stopped dead. She had let her anger build up until it exploded. She knew she shouldn't have yelled; she wished she hadn't yelled. She had just made her so angry.

Adena abruptly turned, red with embarrassment she mumbled a light sorry on her way out and ran right into James' chest once she'd exited the room. She didn't even bother moving. She stood with her head on his chest until he wrapped his arm around her.

"C'mon," he said, trying to lead her back to Gryffindor Tower, but she wouldn't let him.

"No," she said, sadly. "I have to write my mother."

"Ok, well, we'll be in the Common Room," he told her softly, as he wiped a tear from her cheek. "See you later."

They began to walk away, leaving her feeling stupid. As Adena turned she saw Sirius turn his head and stare at her, confused. She tried to smile reassuringly, but was pretty sure she'd failed, and started off towards the Owlery.

After Adena had sent her letter, she decided to go hide out in the library, under the impression that Sirius and James would rather _die_ than step foot in there. She just needed some time to think. While she had pushed most her troubling thoughts to the back of her mind, they were now edging back. She had been certain that, though it hadn't been said, the Sorting Hat had implied that her own mum had been in Slytherin.

That scared her sincerely. What with the way Sirius loathed them so. She was afraid to mention it; she was careful not to let her thoughts slip. She figured he'd never speak to her, if he knew she was the spawn of a Slytherin.

She shivered as she sat in one of the armchairs in a remote corner of the massive library. She'd only been here once before, and she looked curiously around, taking in the high walls, laden with dusty old volumes. She sat there only a few moments before her thoughts and observations were interrupted.

"Lost?" asked a husky voice behind her. Adena turned curiously, to see the owner of the voice.

"No…" she said as she took in his appearance. He was tall and lean, very toned. He had a bronzy look to his skin. Like he'd spent his entire summer in the sun. His hair was a dark golden color, and his eyes the color of honey. He chuckled.

"Oh, well you looked lost," he informed her. "And you're not really familiar… I'm Joshua, by the way. Josh Berk."

"Oh, hi, I'm Adena," she told him.

"OH! So _you're _the Marauder girl?" he asked, though it seemed like more of a statement, than a question.

"I'm… _What_?" He laughed again.

"_The Marauder girl_," he repeated before clarifying. "The new girl, the American girl. The one who runs with the Marauders."

"Oh… I guess that sounds like me. I just didn't know they had a _name_," she admitted. Josh laughed his deep laugh once more, his golden eyes sparkling.

"Oh, I'm sure there's a lot you don't know about them," he said, a little darkly. Adena didn't know what that was supposed to mean at all.

"Cryptic much?" she asked, at which he smiled.

"So, have your buddies ditched you or…"

"Not really. I guess… I guess I ditched them," she admitted.

"Well, good for you!" he said with a wink. "C'mon."

Before she could refuse, Josh reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. She faltered, a little taken by surprise, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards the door. Once they'd exited the library, Adena broke free from Josh's protective hold.

"Where are we going?" she wondered aloud.

"You'll see," he said with a grin, and settled for taking her hand. He pulled her towards the Entrance Hall, eagerly. Adena was a little apprehensive as he led her through the front doors. "You've seen the grounds, right?"

He looked at her, only to see her shake her head absently. He stared. "But don't you play Quidditch?"

"Yes, but I haven't had a chance to come out-"

"Come on then!"

And they started towards the pitch. Once they'd reached it, Josh pulled her to a row of four doors. Each was a different color, with a different symbol on the front. Josh led Adena to the purple one with the bird on it.

It was a locker room, she saw, upon entering. She looked around, taking in the purple lockers curiously. Josh left her at the door, and shuffled over to a locker, muttered something, and quickly opened the locker. As he walked back towards her, Adena saw that he was holding in his hands a brand new broomstick.

Adena's eyes couldn't help but widen, as she saw exactly what broom it was. It was identical to the one she and James had admired that day in Diagon Alley.

"Wow…" was all she could think to say. "Wow."

"Yeah, she's a beauty isn't she?"

"Mhm… Can… Can I ride it?"

"Of course you can!" he told her with a laugh, making her eyes light up.

"_Really? _Ohmigosh. OH my- Thanks!" she squealed, grabbing it from his grip. She ran to the locker room door, as soon as she burst through, she hopped on and kicked off with a jolt.

She bolted into the air, and flew immediately off towards the opposite end of the pitch. She marveled at the broom, as she willed to make pinpoint turns, barely touching it. She dropped the broomstick, and quickly headed towards the ground, only to bring the nose of the broom up at the last minute, just missing the wet grass. She continued to weave through the air, the wind whipping her in the face and roaring in her ears. She felt pure ecstasy, she hadn't flown in ages.

She soared around the pitch for a little while longer, before landing with a _thud_ next to Josh. She wore an insanely wide grin on her windblown red face. It reached all the way to her shining blue eyes and back again. She couldn't help but reach her arms around his neck and hug him tightly.

"Thanks! That was amazing, I'm so jealous. I just wish I had one. Mine's _ancient,_" she told him rapidly.

Josh grinned and released her.

"Isn't it though? It's got so many new features. Like-"

"Oh no," Adena interrupted. "Class! We forgot about class."

"I didn't… This is my free period," he told her. "I thought it was yours too… You were late for class when you were sitting in the library."

"Oh! I was? Wow… I didn't think detention _took_ that long," she mused, more to herself.

"You had detention?" Josh asked, curiously.

"Yes," she said, grinning at the memory. "We put fireworks in Snape's pants!"

"Nice one!" Josh commended, grinning in response. "We should probably get back up to the castle, though."

"Alright. Do you need to put that back in the locker room?"

Josh nodded, before turning back towards the doors. Adena followed close behind him, smiling still. They entered the dark room, and Josh went back to his locker, but now, Adena followed, looking around. She looked up the row of lockers, as Josh whispered the incantation for his lock, and placed his broom back in his locker. Once he'd closed it, he turned to Adena.

"Thanks, again, for letting me have a ride," she said, brightly.

"No problem, you can have a ride anytime you want," he told her.

"You're the best," she told him, before hugging him again.

But before she could pull away, Josh pushed his lips onto hers. At first she froze, but soon her mind and body caught up to each other and she followed her first instinct, which was to kiss back. Josh pinned her against the locker, she felt a slight pain, as her back hit a lock, but she ignored it. Adena ran her hands through his golden blond hair. Josh ran his hands up the sides of her body.

After a moment, he pulled back his head, and brought his hand to cup her cheek. He ran his thumb over her lips as he gazed into her cerulean eyes.

"You're beautiful," he whispered, huskily, making her blush. He kissed her lightly on the lips once more, before taking her hand and leading her from the locker room. They began to walk back towards the castle, hand in hand.

**AN: Alright, that's chapter 3. Seriously, I know he seems a little… forward, but that's hormones for ya, huh? Anyways. I have a lot of the chapters done, so really, I can get up the next chapter as soon as the first person reviews, so I have someone to dedicate it to. Keep that in minds, loves. You know the drill. First reviewer gets chappie dedication. xD**

**Love ya, Lady Carmilla.**


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: **JK Rowling owns _Harry Potter_, not me.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **Narita S

**-Chapter Four-**

When Adena walked into the Common Room, later that day, she was hounded with questions almost instantly.

"Where have you been? We haven't seen you since _lunch_!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry. I was hanging out in the library, and then I flew around the Quidditch pitch for a little while…"

"You skipped class to fly around?" James asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, I guess," Adena said, sheepishly.

"_Without us_!?!" Sirius asked. "Thanks a lot; we know how special we are to _you._"

"Aw, come on," Adena said. "It wasn't like that, you know you're _special_."

"Yeah, sure," Sirius said with mock hurt. "It's just hard to tell sometimes, the way you treat us!"

"I'm sorry," Adena said, loudly. "I'll never leave you again."

"Hah! We've won you back!" Sirius said, triumphantly. He then turned to run back towards the fire place, towards the couch. When he got there, he leapt into the air and landed in between Remus and Julia, who were doing their homework on one of the old couches.

Julia was nearly launched off the couch, but Sirius caught her just in time, making her glare lightly at him as she picked up her books, which _had _been thrown from the sofa.

Adena laughed, and started to follow Sirius' lead, but stopped when she felt someone grab her hand, she turned to see James' questioning eyes.

"Who did you _really_ skip with?" he accused.

"Um, no one, why?"

"Well, you don't have your broom. I thought you said you were _flying_?"

"OH, um, wow, must've forgotten it down there… Stupid me," she said, unconvincingly.

"Adena."

"Oh alright, I don't know why it matters, anyways. I wasn't alone. And I didn't use my broom, happy?"

"I was just asking, Adena," he said calmly.

"Joshua Berk," she blurted.

"Joshua-?!" he asked, his eyes changing from curious, to angry, fast. "_Joshua Berk_?!"

"Yes, why does it matter?"

"Because, the guy's a prat!"

"No he's not! He let me fly on his new broomstick. Oh, man, it was amazing, James, _Amazing_!" she said, remembering her flight dreamily.

"Broom shmoom; the guy's a prat," James repeated.

"Ugh, whatever James," she said, before turning to go and sit with the others by the fire. James grudgingly followed.

----------X----------

A week later, James was _still_ in his bad mood; mostly because Adena was spending increasingly more time with Josh, and increasingly less with him and Sirius. And no mater how much he tried, Adena would just not listen to what he had to tell her about Josh. He was a creep, and she was being naïve, because she was new, she had no idea of his reputation. Every time he tried to tell her, to warn her, she would call him names; say that _he_ was being the creep. She liked to tell him he was jealous, too.

This was nonsense, of course. James cared for Adena, sure, but he just didn't want to see her get hurt. He didn't want to have to say I told you so, like he knew he would. James was far from jealous. He was just being a good friend. Or, at least that's what he was telling himself.

James was sitting in the Great Hall, eating breakfast with his fellow Marauders, when he noticed Adena walk straight past them. He looked ahead of her, to see where she was headed, though he thought he knew. He, of course, was right. He watched as Adena walked to the Ravenclaw table, spotted Josh, and kissed his cheek as she sat next to him.

This was a low blow, in James' book. While Adena had been spending more time with Josh than them, she at least still sat with them at meals; it was about the only time they hung out, actually. So now, to see her _completely_ forget about them, to go sit with that bimbo was taking it too far.

"Did you see that?!" James asked. "She's _sitting_ with him, now, too!"

The other boys turned to look at the pair. Sirius made a gagging noise.

"Way to ditch us," he said, sullenly.

"So, what, now we're _never_ going to see her?" James asked.

"Guess not. I guess we're not pretty enough for her," Sirius said, sadly.

"Sirius, stop. I'm trying to be serious here," James said. He smacked his forehead when he'd finished though. He was usually careful not to let it slip, but he hadn't been paying attention. Sirius started cracking up.

"C'mon, Padfoot. You know that joke got old the _second time_ it was used," Remus told him.

"No! It didn't. Really, it's better every time," Sirius said. "Look, Prongs, I know you want to be me, but there can only be one-"

"Padfoot. _I'm not joking_. We're never going to see her again. She's probably mad at us for not letting her be in _Ravenclaw_," James said, grudgingly.

"Mate, you just sound jealous," Remus admitted.

"I'm not jealous! You know Josh's a git. He's just going to hurt her," James said.

"Well, if she wants to hang out with a git let her, I mean, we let her hang out with you for a while…" Sirius said laughing at his own joke.

James just shook his head, and stood. He picked his bag up, left the hall, and started towards his first class. He walked blindly towards charms, not really paying any attention to his surroundings. As he turned the last corner, he ran smack into another body.

As he was the bigger person, most literally, in this situation, he reached to grab whoever he'd knocked into before they could fall. When he did, he realized it was the Head girl. She stood quickly, and picked up the books she'd dropped.

"Sorry," James mumbled, before starting to walk away, Lily stopped him though, with her words.

"Its ok; thanks for catching me," she said.

"No problem," he said without emotion, and was about to walk away when she stopped him again.

"What's wrong?" James couldn't help but look at her, her voice had sounded so concerned; it was comforting.

"Um, nothing," he said.

"Is this about Adena going out with that Ravenclaw git?"

"Kinda- Wait, they're _going out_?"

"Oh, um, yes. I thought you knew, sorry," she mumbled looking up into James' hazel eyes, which were now swimming with hurt.

"No, she failed to mention that, you know, all_ two _times I talked to her this week," he spat.

"Oh, James, I'm sorry," she whispered.

James was about to say something else when a group of giggling girls surged passed. They called his name and waved hello, much to his disgust. He nodded absently to them, before turning back to Lily, who was trying not to laugh. James' frown cracked a little, and he shared a small smile with Lily.

"Excuse me, Evans; was there something _funny _about that?"

"No, Potter, of course not. Nothing funny at all," she said, as she turned to walk the other way. James smiled as he watched her go.

"Why James Potter, do you _fancy _Miss Lily? Or do you just stare after _everyone_ like that?"

James turned to see Adena standing with Sirius and Remus, smirking. He cursed himself as he felt his cheeks heat up.

"_Of course_ he fancies Lily, he's only liked her since the first time she turned him down!" Sirius told her.

"Really? That's interesting…" Adena mused, as their charms teacher came to the door, and ushered them inside.

James noticed that Adena seemed to be watching him all throughout the class. He tried not to think about it, though. He tried to concentrate on what the teacher was saying, but upon realizing that that wasn't fooling anyone, he settled for writing a note, and passing it to Adena.

_Hey, Loser, you might want to stop staring at me, _He wrote. When Adena read it, she couldn't help but laugh.

_I know, I know. But I just can't help it. You're much too prettttty, _she wrote back, causing James to chuckle.

_Ah, yes, I get that a lot... _James told her, she laughed lightly.

_What happened to us?_ She asked, rather abruptly.

_What ever do you mean? _James asked, though he knew exactly what she meant.

_You know what I mean. I haven't talked to you in ages. I miss you. _She admitted.

_Well, I haven't gone _anywhere_, Babe. I was right here, the entire time. I'll always be right here, _he dared to say.

_Oh, James. I'm sorry. I was being a bitch, wasn't I? _

_Umm… Yeah, just a little bit… Well, ok. A lot. _James wrote. Adena read it, and smacked his arm lightly. She smiled; he smiled back. They continued to pass their note back and forth until class was over, and they got up to leave. They continued to talk on their way to their next class.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, we finally got the pitch. Tryouts are tonight," James told Adena.

"Tonight?! Thanks for the warning!"

"Aw, c'mon, what do you possibly need warning for? I think," He paused to count on his fingers, "five hours is warning enough."

"What're we talking about?" Sirius asked, coming up behind them.

"Quidditch tryouts," James said.

"Oh! I forgot," he said, brightening. "I can't wait to watch the hopefuls crash and burn!"

"Watch? What're you watching; you have to try out too!" James said, jokingly.

"Hey! No, you said I could be _co-captain_! You promised!" Sirius whined, making Adena laugh.

"Settle down. I was kidding! Jeez," James said, rolling his eyes at Adena. She laughed again.

"But, do I still get to be Co-captain?" Sirius asked with worry.

"I really did miss hanging out with you two," Adena said. She screamed, though, as Sirius grabbed her around the middle and lifted her off the ground squeezing her.

"We missed you too," he told her happily spinning.

"Sirius! Put me down," she managed to choke out through her laughter. "Sirius!"

"Yes, your highness," he said, letting her go. They continued to walk the rest of the way to potions. They were loud and obnoxious the entire way.

----------X----------

James looked out at the group of kids gathered before him. None of them looked as though they were laced with talent, but he could be wrong.

"Alright," he said loudly. "Go ahead and warm up a little, we'll begin in a moment."

James walked over to Sirius and sighed. "This is going to be interesting…"

Sirius grinned. James let them fly around for a few moments before calling them all back to order. "Well, we've got three spots to fill," he told them. "We need a Beater, a Chaser, and a new Keeper. Go ahead and separate into the groups," James directed authoritatively.

He began to instruct them, watching them closely, making mental notes. He watched as a young boy was hit in the face with a quaffle as he attempted to catch it. James crossed him off his list. After two or so hours, his list was down to three names. He made a point to talk it over with his 'co-captain' so he wouldn't whine, even though he knew who was going to be on the team no matter what Sirius said. He had everyone stop.

"Ok, well, after much deliberation, we've chosen our team," James said, everyone froze, listening carefully. "For the position of Chaser, we've chosen: Curtis Fletcher."

There was a collective gasp. Curtis swung at the air with a victory "Yes!" while the other hopeful Chasers groaned and stalked off the field, not even waiting to hear who else had made the team.

"It was close for Keeper, but we've decided to go with: Julia Cleff."

Julia grinned while another third of the Gryffindors skulked away.

"And finally, our new Beater, is Adena Sanguina," James announced to the groans of just about everyone left on the field.

"That's not fair! You only picked her because she's your friend!" Someone dared to say. James ignored it gracefully.

"Thanks to everyone else," he said, though most everyone had left already. "Ok, team. We'll be in touch with a schedule, thanks for coming out!"

Everyone who was left began to head towards the locker room. James stayed back, watching them go. Sirius walked up behind him with Adena and Julia.

"Thanks for picking me, guys!" Julia said.

"No problem, but Jules, how come you've never tried out before? You're a _natural_," James told her.

"Well, I never realized it was this much fun!" She told them with a grin. "I need to shower, though, I feel gross..."

She smiled and headed towards the locker room. Sirius looked at James and Adena meaningfully, and turned to chase after Julia.

"Hey, Jules! Wait up!"

Adena laughed at him. "C'mon, let's go."

James nodded and took Adena's broom to carry for her, put his arm around her shoulders, and they too began to walk towards the locker rooms.

**AN: Ok, guys. That's chapter four. What do we think? Let me know, please and thank you. First reviewer gets dedication, of course…**

OH.** Yes, and I wanted to mention something else. I've noticed that fanfiction doesn't seem to be sending out alert emails, so, if you want to keep up with this story, I wouldn't rely on the website to tell you, because I know it hasn't been alerting me. I guess that's all. Chapter 5 should be up shortly. xD**

**Love forever, Lady Carmilla.**


	5. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: **Contrary to popular belief, I am not, in fact, JK Rowling in disguise, so, therefore I do NOT own _Harry Potter._

**I dedicate this chapter to: **Sam

**-Chapter Five-**

Adena lay staring at her dorm ceiling. It was only 9, but she'd told her friends she was tired, because she really needed to be alone. She needed to think. Think about her boyfriend; think about James… and what he had told her about her boyfriend.

James had told her that Josh was no good for her, that he's a cheater. He said he'd only hurt her. At first, Adena wouldn't believe him. She couldn't. James had sounded so completely jealous. But, then something happened to change her mind. Adena thought back to a few days prior, when she met James in the hallway before Charms. She remembered quite clearly the way James had stared after Lily when she'd walked away.

It completely changed her opinion of the warnings. She had previously dismissed them, because she thought James jealous, but if he fancied Lily, then he had no real reason to sabotage her relationship with Josh… unless it was the truth.

Adena began to think about Josh. He was so sweet, so caring. He made her feel so good, but she felt bad about the way she noticed she seemed to analyze his every move. She watched him closely when they were around other people; around other girls. He always _seemed _composed to her, but sometimes she was sure she could detect a hint of a somewhat knowing or sly smile.

Adena shook her head angrily. How could she be thinking such things about her boyfriend? Talk about paranoid.

Adena rolled sideways off her bed, and walked slowly towards the bathroom. She ran the cold water in the sink, and splashed her face a couple times. She turned off the faucet and looked up at her reflection. Her blue eyes were sad. She tried to say she wasn't sad, because she didn't _want_ to be. But she could see it, and she was sure her friends could see it as well.

She dried her face, and was about to leave the bathroom when she heard two tittering voices. She paused. She really didn't fancy seeing Abbi and Bridget now; not that she ever did, really. She turned, and hopped up onto the countertop, leaning her back against the cold mirror. She was about to begin her attempt to drown out their voices, when she heard her name. She paused. They said it again.

Adena couldn't resist, so she slid off the counter to press her ear quietly to the door.

"_I know_, but she's just _so_ oblivious," she heard one of them say, though she wasn't sure which. "I mean _what _is the point if she's not even going to find out?!"

"I just _love_ her hair…" the other one whined. "I wish my hair would do that!"

"Shut up, Abbi! I'm plotting here!"

"Sorry," Abbi said sheepishly.

Bridget continued as though she hadn't been interrupted.

"But seriously. Even _you_ would have noticed by now… Whatever. She'll find out eventually… C'mon, it's obviously not here."

Adena stood frozen in her spot as she heard the dorm door swing closed. What on _Earth_ were they talking about? Whatever it was, Adena did not like the sound of it. She knew it would bother her until she knew, so she opened the door a little, to make sure they were gone, then, slid into the dorm, and hurried to lock the door. She then turned and started towards Bridget's bed and trunk.

Adena wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, as she opened the drawer in the side table next to Bridget's four-poster and shoveled through it. She didn't find anything much: a few issues of _Teen Witch_, some notes, a few bottles of ink, some all-purpose stain remover, and some other odds and ends.

Adena picked up the notes, and opened one. She skimmed it, and found it was from someone named Jimmy; whoever that was. She put it back and was about to pick up another when she heard a tap at her window. She jumped a mile, quickly threw the note back into the drawer, and closed it a little loudly.

She glanced nervously at the window. There was another tap, she moved towards the window. She threw it open and was surprised to meet the golden eyes of a person, and not those of an owl, as she'd expected. She jumped back.

She stared, slightly confused, at her boyfriend's hovering form. He looked at her strangely for a moment, before climbing through the opened window with a grin. He set his broomstick carefully down on Adena's bed before moving towards her.

"Hey, Baby," he said with a grin.

"Hi, uh, Josh… What- Uh, what're you _doing_ up here?"

"Whaddaya think I'm doing up here? I came to see _my favorite girl_, of course," he said before kissing her fully on the lips… and _in_ the mouth.

Josh pushed Adena lightly backwards onto the nearest bed. Adena barely even registered that it wasn't even hers. All her previous paranoia was forgotten, as Josh ran his hands over her body. There was a sharp intake of breath on Adena's part, as Josh slid his cold hands under her shirt.

"Josh," she whispered, trying to stop his hand, but he moved it away, and continued to kiss her neck.

"Josh," she said more firmly.

"Hmmm?" he said dismissively as he moved his kisses down her collar bone.

"Josh!" He pulled back, looking dubious.

"What?" he asked, Adena noted, a little rudely.

"We need to talk," she informed him.

"Talk?" he asked with disgust. "I hope by talk you mean…"

He trailed off as he kissed her again.

"No," Adena said pushing him back slightly. "That's not what I mean."

"Dee, Babe. Why would you wanna talk? Why not make our love _known_, huh?" he asked suggestively.

"Would you _please_ stop calling me 'Dee'?" Adena said making a face.

"Why? Dee. Dee. Dee-Dee. Do you like that better, _Dee-Dee_?"

"No, I don't. In fact, I didn't think it possible, but it's worse than _Dee_," Adena spat.

"Whatever. I bet you'd let those prat Marauders call you Dee, huh?" Josh accused. Adena looked at him incredulously.

"I don't let _anybody_ call me Dee," she nearly yelled. "Dee is… Ew. Don't ever call me it again."

"Ok, fine, _Adena_. Better? Now, may we carry on?" he asked, and without waiting for a reply moved forwards to continue where he'd left off.

"You've _got _to be kidding me. Didn't I just say, _no_?" Adena said, angrily. She stood from the bed.

"Adena. _Come on_, now, what is there honestly to_ talk_ about? I think you'd much rather shag, you just don't want to admit it, it's ok. You don't have to say it," he said, grabbing her hand. Adena ripped it from his.

"Get the hell out of here!" she yelled. "I'm _not_ going to sleep with you."

"And why not? You're my girlfriend, aren't you? It's not like you're not sleeping with anyone else," he said, making her jaw drop.

"_What_?"

"Yeah, I know. I know all about you and the Marauders. Everybody does. You've probably shagged them all, haven't you? Even the short fat one," Josh accused.

"I have _not _slept with _any _one of them, for your information. I can't even believe you would even say that!"

"Why not?"

"Get out! _Right now_. Get the fuck out, I _never _want to see you again."

"You know, I thought you were different," Josh said, on his way to the door. "I guess the Marauders have you trained well, though, huh? I guess it's ok, though, since I've been _seeing_ Bridget when you aren't around, anyways."

Adena wanted to scream. She instead opted for sending a hex right at Josh's back as he was unlocking the door to leave. He froze, and weird boils began to sprout up on his body. Adena didn't even stop there though, as she threw a jelly legs curse his way, and once the door was finally opened, he couldn't support himself, and he tumbled helplessly through the door, and down the stairs, which turned into a slide as he touched them.

Adena heard him shouting all the way down, as she plunged head first into her bed, and buried her head in the pillows. She couldn't help but cry. She had trusted him, and he hurt her, just like James said she would. He'd cheated, just like James said she would. Adena wasn't sure how long she'd been lying there when Lily came running in with Katherine and Julia close at her heels.

"Adena?" Lily asked softly, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Adena, what happened?"

"I d-don't wanna t-talk about it…" Adena mumbled into her pillow.

Lily looked up at her friends, unsure of what to do.

"He c-cheated," she said with a sniff. "And s-said I d-did too, and _he_ w-warned me, b-but I didn't l-listen. I'm s-such an idiot."

Lily looked to her friends for help, once more. Julia shrugged her shoulders wordlessly.

"You're not an idiot, love," Lily assured her.

"Yes I am. I didn't listen, I told him he was a liar; I called him names. I almost lost him for _this_."

"Uhh… Adena, _who_ are we talking about here?" Katherine asked, a little bluntly.

"_James_," Adena told them, as if it was obvious. "He was my _first_ friend. He was nice to me when others weren't, and I totally blew him off. I was _such _a bitch."

Adena sat up, leaned her back against the headboard, and hugged her knees to her chest. She set her chin on the top of her knees and looked at her friends. A sudden feeling of gratitude rushed through her as she looked at their worried faces. They cared.

"_He'll hate me_," she whispered.

"No he won't!" Julia told her scathingly. "Of course he won't hate you. You _can't_ let Josh get to you. Why don't you go and talk to James right now, I'm _sure_ he doesn't hate you."

"Now?" Adena asked, as she wiped her cheeks.

"Sure, go ahead. He was down in the Common Room when we left," Lily informed her.

Adena looked at the three Gryffindors and almost started crying again. But this time, they would have been more like tears of joy, as she saw how much they loved her. She couldn't ask for more. They were the best friends anyone could have.

"Thanks you guys, you're the best," Adena said, with a smile, before hopping up off the bed, and hurrying out the door.

Adena almost died on her way down the stairs, when she tripped over her own feet. She stumbled a little, but caught her footing, and jumped the last few steps into the Common Room. She looked around anxiously. She wasn't sure what she'd say to James, but she knew she had to mention somehow that she was sorry. She heard her name, and turned to see Sirius looking quizzically at her.

"Adena? What happened?"

"Um, nothing… I'll tell you later, but, ah- where's James?"

"I think he's upstairs," Sirius told her, nodding towards the Boy's Dormitory stairs. She offered her thanks, and walked cautiously to the staircase, not sure if it would reject her the way the girl's staircase rejected boys.

"Its fine," Sirius said sensing her fear with a chuckle. "Only yours does that."

"Oh, ok," Adena said, before starting up the stairs. Once she reached the top, she walked to the door that read '7th Year Boys' and knocked. She heard someone moving around inside, then she saw the door open a little.

"Adena? What're you doing up here?" James asked, opening the door all the way.

"Um, can we, er- talk?" Adena asked, staring at her feet.

"Sure," he said, moving out of the doorway, so that she could enter. Adena walked passed him and sat on his bed next to his opened Transfiguration book. Adena looked at his homework absently.

"Adena?"

She jumped a little. She looked up into his worried hazel eyes and felt all _her_ worries melt away. All her inhibitions about talking to him diminished. She began to talk quickly, eager to get it all out.

"Josh-and-I-broke-up-and-it-turns-out-you-were-right-and-I'm-really-really-sorry-oh-can-you-ever-forgive-me-James?" Adena looked up at him expectantly, and was disappointed to see he clearly hadn't understood a word she'd said.

"Alright. Well, how about you say that again. Slower?"

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking at the floor. "It's just that Josh and I broke up and… well you were right, and I'm so sorry that I didn't believe you. I wish I could take back what I said. I just… Can you _ever_ forgive me?"

Adena glanced cautiously up at him only to find him looking amused.

"What?" she asked self-consciously.

"Adena, its ok, of course I forgive you. But, I never really needed you to be sorry in the first place. You really have nothing to be sorry for," he admitted, with a warm smile. Adena grinned. She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him over. He chuckled.

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too."

**AN: Alrighty. 5 chapters down, x more to go! Yes, here it comes: PLEASE REVIEW. You know I will love you forever, for ANYTHING you have to say. Even if it's stupid. I promise. LET ME KNOW. ****First reviewer gets chapter dedication****! Thanks loves.**

**-LC**


	6. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer: **Lady Carmilla does not, in fact, own Harry Potter. We are very sorry to all those who were misled, we never meant for it to get this out of hand. We are profusely sorry. We really are. :)

**I dedicate this chapter to: **The girl with no life

**-Chapter Six-**

Adena sat with Lily and Katherine in the library. Adena was _supposed_ to be studying, but she'd zoned out yet again. A pair of fingers snapped in front of her thoughtful face. She sat straight up and looked at James sitting on the edge of their table in front of her. He was looking at her curiously. Adena shook her head, trying to snap out of her daze.

"Huh?" she asked thickly. James looked amused.

"Day dreaming again, m'dear?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Oh… Yeah," she admitted sheepishly.

"Sorry if we're too boring for you, love," Katherine said jokingly.

"Oh, no! I've just been worried is all; my mother still hasn't answered my last letter…" Adena divulged quietly.

"Oh, Adena, I'm sure she's fine," Lily said soothingly, understanding her worry immediately. "When did you send it?"

"Oh… Uh… Yesterday," she said, and James chuckled again.

"Adena, you could at least give her more than _24 hours_ to answer, can't you?"

Adena looked at James as though just seeing him for the first time.

"Yeah, sure," she said distractedly. "I actually gotta go, see you guys later."

Adena stood and grabbed her books, shoving them unceremoniously into her bag. Once they were in, and her bag was closed, she turned to the group, gave them a quick smile, then hurried from the library.

She ran head first into someone on her way out; she back stepped, then moved forward to help the person with their books. She paused to see who it was she'd bumped into and as she looked up to see his familiar golden orbs, she recoiled, as though burned.

"Oh, _thanks _for the help," Josh spat sarcastically. "It's not like _you_ knocked them over or anything."

He picked up his things and pushed past Adena into the library. She stood frozen as she watched him saunter over to sit with her least favourite roommates. Adena wasn't sure how long she stood there before she was poked in the side, and brought uncomfortably back to reality.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Sirius asked playfully.

"Oh, n-nothing," Adena said, focusing her attention on the tall boy now in front of her. Sirius didn't look convinced, but Adena was relieved to see that he wasn't going to push the topic.

"Where you headed?" he asked.

"Common Room," she said. "You?"

"Where ever you're headed, love," Sirius replied with a grin. Adena cracked a smile, and put out her arm for him. He linked it with hers, and they headed towards Gryffindor Tower together.

----------X----------

Adena sat on her bed nervously, her eyes fixed on the opened window. She'd been sitting like that for quite sometime, willing her owl to fly through it with her mother's letter. She really was getting worried. She hadn't wanted to alarm her friends, but it had really been more than 24 hours since she'd last written her mother. She couldn't imagine what was keeping her, besides the worst. Her fears had only deepened when she read the Dailey Prophet's report on a recent Death Eater attack in London. She had scanned the article for her mother's name, but somehow, not finding it wasn't as reassuring as she'd hoped.

She sighed angrily and fell back onto her pillows. She could hardly bear the thought of losing her mother; she'd already lost her father. She was reminded painfully of her life after the loss of her father. It had been exceedingly difficult to try and get over, but at least she'd had her mother to help her through it. If her mother died now, who would help her through _that_? Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she pulled her pillow tightly to her chest and curled up into a ball. She sobbed herself to sleep.

But sleep had not, as she'd hoped, robbed her of her painful memories, but had reinforced them. As she slept, she dreamt of her father's funeral. The way she'd seen him last, so stiff and pale… So _dead_. It was like seeing a completely different person lying there, lifeless.

Adena watched as her father's coffin was lowered into his grave. She stepped forward, about to drop her rose upon him, when she heard his muffled voice calling out to her. She froze.

"Adena!" he yelled. He sounded worried. "Adena, honey!"

"Dad? Dad, I-"

"Adena!"

Adena felt hands grab onto her arms and shake her, she looked around and saw no one; she began to run. She ran from the invisible person, she ran from her father's lifeless body; she ran from her past.

"Daddy…" she whispered before her teary eyes snapped open to see Julia's worried face peering down at her.

She sat up quickly to find herself in her bed, tangled in her sheets, breathing hard. She looked around, to see that it had grown dark. She shivered as a cool breeze blew in through her still-open window, she turned back to Julia.

"You alright?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah… Just a bad dream," Adena told her.

"Oh, well, an owl came for you while you were sleeping. Here," she said, handing her the letter.

Adena took it and grinned as she recognized her mother's looping cursive handwriting. She opened it eagerly.

_Dearest Adena,_

_Hi, Hun. I'm so sorry it took so long to answer you, we were swamped at the hospital this week, what with that last attack being to devastating. I hope you didn't worry… Oh, but I know you did, so I am truly sorry dear. I must admit I am glad to hear that you and what's-his-face broke up. I never liked the sound of him, dear. You can do so much better than that. And of course, it's great to hear that you've made up with the… What is it you called them, darling? _Moranders_? Well, anyways. _They _sound like nice boys. I received a letter from Professor McGonagall that suggests otherwise, but I trust your better judgment. Fireworks in his pants, huh? You sound like your father. Ok, Darling, my hand is really starting to hurt, I have been writing reports and flicking my wand all day. I miss you, Love. You know I do. I can hardly wait for winter holiday! I love you, Adena. Please, stay safe, and _out_ of trouble, if you don't mind. Talk to you soon!_

_With love, Mum._

Adena jumped from her bed and hugged Julia tightly, taking her quite by surprise.

"She's fine!" Adena announced happily.

"That's great, Adena, but I can't breathe…"

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Alright, let's go. I'm getting hungry," Julia said, Adena agreed gladly, and they left to get dinner.

All throughout dinner, Adena was tittering happily. She talked and joked and laughed just like she always used to. She was just finishing off her second helping of treacle tart, when she noticed someone's gaze upon her. She looked up to see Sirius looking at her questioningly.

"Why're you so happy?" he asked.

"Oh, well, my mum finally wrote me back; I was getting really worried…"

"Oh, well, that's good," Sirius said with a smile. "What was she up to?"

"She works at Mungo's, and I guess they've been really busy lately… You know…"

"Hey guys!" James called as he plopped down beside Adena. "We've got the pitch for practice tomorrow."

"Awesome," Adena said enthusiastically, as Sirius nodded in agreement. James grinned and began to stuff his face with everything he could his hands on. Adena shook her head with disgust as he continued to speak with a mouthful of chicken and potatoes.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to eat with your mouth closed?" She asked sarcastically.

"Nope!" James said, sticking his food covered tongue out at her. She put her hand to her forehead in despair as he continued to taunt her merrily with half-chewed food.

**AN: YEY. Alright. That's chapter six, Lads. Like, dislike, indifference? YE BEST BE LETTIN' MEH KNOW HOW YE FEEEEL. That was my Hagrid impression. Any good? ROFL. Ok, first review gets chapter dedication.**

**Thanks! **

**Loveth, Lady Carmilla.**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: **Hey, guess what? I don't own HP.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **LolaCherryColaGirl

**-Chapter Seven-**

Halloween was fast approaching and the castle was really beginning to reflect it. Arrangements were being made for the feast, and the thought of kept everyone buzzing. It was slowly coming together, day by day.

Adena sat by the lake and watched as Hagrid trudged around in the garden, inspecting a giant pumpkin, trying to find the best ones to be carved. She shivered as a cool autumn breeze blew through, whipping her dark curls into her face, and leaving ripples on the surface of the dark lake. She watched as the ripples raced away, until they were nothing.

She looked up just as a familiar owl came to land next to her. She patted his head affectionately as she relieved it of its burden, and he nibbled her finger lightly before flying off to the Owlery to rest before his flight home.

"Thanks Lucifer!" Adena said when the owl was already gone. She opened the note eagerly, longing to see the familiar looping writing of her best friend.

_Adena Ballerina!_

_Dude, we miss you SO much, man! Haven't talked in FOREVER. You haven't forgotten about us over here in the Free World, have you? How are things in jolly old England, anyways? Oh, Ben says hi, and he wants me to tell you he misses you too. What a dork. Good, he saw I wrote it, so he's gone. Now I can ask what you know I'm DYING to know. How the fuck are the boys? Do they have bad teeth with sexy accents to make for them, you know, like in the movies, or what? Have you gotten any hot English action yet? SPILL! Oh, man! GUESS WHAT MOM SAID?!? She said if I can make the money, I can come and VISIT! HOLY SHIT ADENA! Ask Adelaide, or, actually just tell her, because I'm coming no matter what. Hah! I can't WAIT! Oh, Ben's back, and he says he wants to come, too._

_Warn your mother, we're coming for Christmas! HECK YES._

_I fucking love you, Doll._

_Love, the one, the only, LYDIA! (Oh, and Ben, too, I guess...)_

Adena could hardly believe her eyes. Lydia was coming to visit. Lydia. _Her best friend, Lydia._ And she was going to see her in just two short months! Adena grinned madly and fell back onto the grass happily.

She was almost squealing with happiness when she was suddenly in the shade. She looked up to see someone standing over her curiously, blocking the sun. She quickly sat up, trying to regain her composure.

"Oh," she said with some relief. "It's just you."

"Just me?" Sirius asked. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know what I meant."

"What's going on? I thought you were having a seizure or something…"

"Oh, no seizure," Adena answered with a grin. "I'm just excited!"

"Ex-" but Sirius stopped as Adena handed him the letter she'd just received. He read it, his expressions varying greatly. He snorted.

"'Hot English action'? 'Bad teeth with a sexy accent to make up for it'? _Who is this_?" he asked.

"Lydia," Adena said, as if it were obvious. "My best friend."

"Ah, I see, and have you… Written back yet?"

"No, why?" Adena asked suspiciously.

"Just wondering what you had to say about 'how the fuck the boys are'," he quoted. Adena laughed.

"I don't have bad teeth, do I?" he asked self-consciously, flashing her a cheesy smile to show off his teeth. Adena almost fell over, she was laughing so hard.

"No, no. Your teeth are fine!"

"And besides, my sexy accent would make up for that, right?"

Adena smirked. "Definitely."

"So… You think my accent is sexy?" Sirius asked, sitting beside her on the grass. "Hmm… I never thought of that. Just another things to add to the list of reasons why I'm so sexy, I guess…"

Adena laughed and hit his arm playfully. "You're so full of yourself!"

"But that's why you love me!"

"Umm… Cough…"

Sirius gasped jokingly, and they continued to lay there in silence, both on their backs, looking up at the sky thinking. That is, until Sirius rolled over onto his side to face Adena.

"So, she's coming here?" Sirius asked. "You're friend?"

"Yep," Adena replied happily as she turned to look at the boy next to her.

"Is she pretty?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"Sirius!" Adena scolded.

"Just asking…" Sirius trailed off. "And this Ben character, who's he?"

Adena raised her eyebrows. "A friend of mine, why?"

"No reason… So are you like best friends, the three of you?"

I suppose you could say that, yes," Adena told him with a smirk. "Worried?"

"What?" he asked, pretending to sound oblivious. "Me? No. Of course not… About what?"

"Oh nothing," Adena said with an innocent smile. Sirius just stared at her for a moment.

"Alright…"

Adena laughed. She rolled her eyes and rolled onto her stomach. She looked out over the grounds with her chin resting upon her folded arms. She was certain she could feel Sirius' gaze. She peered curiously at him through the curtain of curls that had fallen into her face again. He was looking at her. She turned her head completely.

"What?" she asked with a laugh as a breeze blew her hair wildly into her eyes. Sirius reached up and pushed the tendrils behind her ear.

"Nothing," he said before leaning forward. Adena's breath hitched in her throat, but Sirius hesitated before touching his lips lightly to her forehead. He pulled back and smiled at her. He stood swiftly and started walking towards the castle.

Adena stared after him blankly, her heart beating fast, her stomach besieged with butterflies. What was that? It sounded like some cheesy cliché from a trashy romance novel to Adena, but it was true. She'd never actually thought things like that _happened_. She'd kissed quite a few boys before, and that had never happened. And the worst part about it was that she hadn't really even kissed him. He'd only kissed her on the forehead, for Merlin's sake.

Adena rolled back over and stared hopelessly at the clouds.

----------X----------

Adena walked into the Great Hall, she saw it was already buzzing with students anxiously awaiting the feast. Adena admired Hagrid's pumpkins as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. She looked up and was surprised to see a mass of black flying over her; bats. She smiled as she sat next to Lily.

"You look amazed. How were Halloween feasts at your old school?" Lily asked.

"Honestly? No idea. I never actually _went_ to one," Adena admitted. James, who was sitting diagonal to her, looked over, surprised.

"Really? Why not?" he asked.

"Well, my friends and I used to sneak out before it," Adena said fondly. "And we never got back until it was over."

"What?" Julia asked, sitting down with them. "Why?"

"Well, Lydia and Ben and I all grew up in Muggle neighborhoods, you know? And we had all grown up Trick-Or-Treating. Who wants to sit at some lame feast when you could dress up and get free candy, instead?"

"Fair point," Lily said. "Trick-Or-Treating_ was_ always fun…"

"Trick-or-whating?" James asked, Adena ignored him.

"We'd spend weeks getting our costumes together, then sneak into the nearest Muggle town, and just… _blend in_. The first time we went with some older kids. After that though, it became like our own little tradition… I wonder if they're going without me… Lydia didn't mention it," she mused, more to herself than anything. She looked up and found Lily explaining to James and Katherine Trick-Or-Treating. She turned the other way to find Sirius staring at her again.

"What?"

"Why don't _we_ go Trick-Or-Treating?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

"What?" Adena repeated.

"Yeah! Let's go! It sounds fun to me," James agreed enthusiastically. Lily looked at the pair with disapproval.

"You can't leave," she scolded. "And you, Head Boy, you're setting a terrible example for the younger kids."

"C'mon, you know you wanna go," James told her, and Lily knew he had a point. She hadn't been Trick-Or-Treating in years.

They all looked at Lily like pleading children looking at their mother. She looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking.

"Well…" Lily hesitated. "_Fine_."

And so, as not to look so conspicuous, they slowly began to leave, two at a time. Once they were all outside the Great Hall, they started for Gryffindor Tower.

"How're we going to do this?" Lily asked worriedly.

"Well, we'll run upstairs and grab the Map, maybe the cloak, then I think we'll take the…" Sirius looked to James. "Fourth floor?"

James nodded. "It's too late to all go crawling into Honeyduke's and it's easier to leave from there than the Willow."

Once they'd gotten everything they'd need, and gone over the plan once more, they were all on their way to the fourth floor passage that would lead them out of the castle.

"Just up here," Sirius directed. "Behind that biggish mirror."

They reached it, words were whispered, and they quickly climbed through into the passage behind it. They began to walk, all of them buzzing, excited about where they were headed. James, Sirius, Remus, and Julia each carried brooms. They followed the passage out of the castle, and didn't stop until they'd reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade They performed disillusionment charms on themselves as they mounted the broomsticks. Adena rode with Sirius, while Katherine climbed on with Julia, leaving Lily to grudgingly accept a ride with James.

As they flew, Adena couldn't help but marvel at the fact that she was flying on the back of Sirius' broom, her arms around his waist. She turned her face into his back to block the wind that was whipping at them. She breathed in his scent as they continued forward to the nearest Muggle village and tried to land discretely in some bushes. They hopped off and casually tried to blend in with some Muggles.

"So _what_ do we do…?" Sirius asked again, refusing to approach another house.

"Sirius! It's not that hard, watch the little kids. See, how they just go up, say 'Trick-or-treat' and get candy? Don't you want candy, Sirius? It's not really a hard concept," Adena explained again.

"Alright, alright, but I need you to come with me!" he whined. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up the walkway with him.

After Sirius finally got the hang of it, he wouldn't stop. Everyone had more than enough candy, but Sirius wanted more still. James and Remus humored him by following him up to the houses he chose. The girls stayed back.

"Lily," Julia said casually. "Having a good time with James?"

"Um, no… Well, yes. I suppose," Lily admitted.

"So, going to admit you like 'im?" Katherine asked with a grin.

"I do not."

"Sure you do."

"Besides, I don't think he's interested anymore. He hasn't even asked me out since _last year_," Lily told them.

"Oh, puh-lease. He's acting so nice and charming. I'm sure he does that for you. And maybe he hasn't asked you out, but he hasn't gone out with anyone else, either," Katherine told her matter-of-factly.

"Well, then. There's no hurry, is there?"

"What do you mean?" Julia asked skeptically.

"Well, I mean, and this is purely hypothetical, of course," she stated, giving the girls a look.

"_Of course_," Kat said sarcastically, rolling her eyes to Adena and Julia. Lily continued as though she hadn't been interrupted.

"Well, if he's not going out with anyone else, and isn't thinking about, you know, asking anyone out, well then what's the rush to make my cl- er, my hypothetical claim?"

Adena couldn't help but laugh, leaving Lily looking confused. "What?"

"Nothing… It's just- Oh, never mind," she said as the boys rejoined them.

"C'mon, let's head back," James said, sounding tired. He was relieved to see everyone's nod of approval.

Going back ended up being faster when they decided to just fly back through the passage, instead of walking. Once they'd successfully snuck back in, Lily and James left for the Head Dorms while everyone besides Sirius and Adena headed up to bed, too.

"I can't believe I never knew about this," Sirius said happily as he rummaged through his loot. "I can't believe I _ever_ pitied Muggles. Who needs magic when you have _this_?"

Adena laughed as Sirius continued his inventory. He didn't even seem to notice her laugh had sounded a little forced. Her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking a lot about what Lily had said, and about how Sirius had been acting lately. She was finally about to ask him something when they were interrupted.

"Sirius-"

"Sirius!" came a high pitched voice from behind them. Adena turned and much to her dismay saw Bridget coming towards them.

"Um, excuse me, but how about you take your slutty ass back upstairs and mind your own business," Adena said surprising even herself. Bridget looked at her coldly.

"Sirius, where have you been?" she asked ignoring Adena. "And without me?

"Like I said, _mind your own business_," Adena repeated.

"Oh, but he _is _my business, ya know, since we're _going out_," she said with a triumphant smirk.

Adena stopped and looked at her disdainfully. "So what, you're just like the community whore now?"

Bridget's eyes widened, she turned to Sirius incredulously. Sirius said nothing; he just stared into the fire. Bridget turned on her heel and stomped to the stairs, and with one last, "Hmph!" she was gone.

Adena looked at Sirius, and he turned his gaze to hers. He was eying her warily, his eyes guilt-filled.

"Adena, I-"

"No," Adena say firmly. "Save it."

She stood up and went up to her dorm leaving Sirius feeling stupid. As Adena climbed into bed, she made a mental note to talk to James the next day. It seemed it was only a matter of time before Bridget moved on to him, too.

Adena sent one last glare Bridget's way, before closing her hangings and falling into an angry sleep.

**AN: Hey guys. So… This took longer than I had hoped. I had this chapter written, just not typed. Same with the next one. Most of it IS written, I just have to type it. Hopefully the next one will get up quicker. First reviewer gets dedication, loves. Get to it, please and thanks. :)**

**Much love, LC**


	8. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer: **You know what's mine.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **messyblackhair66

**-Chapter Eight-**

"Wait, wait, wait. What?" James asked again.

"James, you have to have retained _some_ of that," Adena said.

"Okay, okay. So, I need to go out with someone? The nicer the better?"

"Yes."

"Lily _said_ that?"

"Well… No. But she totally implied that she was thinking it," Adena assured him.

"Adena."

"No, I'm serious, she was thinking it."

"The nicer the better, though? How am I supposed to go into a relationship with a _nice girl_ knowing it's only a lie?"

"Uh, well, I hadn't counted on you feeling empathetic…"

"What about you?" James asked suddenly.

Adena's head snapped up, and she looked at him crazily.

"_What_?"

"Will _you _go out with me? It'll be purely fictional; just like you said. _Please_?"

"I… Um, fine," Adena said with defeat.

"Jeez. I'm sorry if the thought of going out with me is bad, but-"

"What? No, that's not it."

"Sirius?"

Adena snapped her head up again. "What?"

"It's obvious you fancy him," James told her knowingly. "And he fancies you. So, I guess I can understand if you want to say no…"

"No. I don't care about that. I'll do it," she said more firmly.

"If you're sure…"

"Do you _want_ me to change my mind?"

"I suppose not. Are you sure this will work?"

"If it doesn't, you can kick me," Adena said with a grin.

"I don't want to kick you!" James said, sounding appalled at the thought. Adena laughed.

"Don't worry, it'll work."

Adena walked beside James, her mind working fast. She was now dating James Potter. It was a strange thought to think, since she saw James purely as her best friend. When she'd first come to school here, she had toyed with the idea that she might fancy him, but since then it had grown into a great friendship, and she most nearly thought of him as her brother.

Adena sneaked a peek at James, he was watching her. It was clear he wasn't going to do anything that made her uncomfortable. She smiled at him and wrapped her arm around his waist. He took that as a sign to put his arm around her shoulders. Once they'd reached the Great Hall, they were both a little nervous. They stopped outside the door and shared a look.

Adena put out her hand, and James took it, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Together they pushed open the door, and paused only momentarily before continuing on to the Gryffindor table. They made it a point to sit down together.

"Morning," Adena said cheerfully to Remus, causing Sirius to eye her curiously.

"Morning," Remus repeated.

"Bacon?" she offered James, picking up the plate piled high with bacon, and giving it to him.

"Of course," he said sweetly. "Thanks."

Adena smiled innocently as she caught Sirius' appalled look. She turned to James as Lily sat down with Julia. She pretended to whisper something in his ear. He chuckled. Sirius' disturbed look only deepened. Adena smiled to herself. This may be more fun that she had previously thought.

They continued to eat, not really talking, but not really being quiet, either. James and Adena continued to share looks and they appeared to be talking with their eyes, laughing at things only they knew.

They got up to leave for class 10 minutes early, and Adena wondered what her friends were thinking as James wrapped his arm around her and led her out of the Hall. Once they'd exited, Adena turned to peek through the door. She smiled to see their friends leaning forward and whispering amongst themselves about what had just happened. Her breath caught in her throat though, as she moved her eyes to Sirius. He was looking towards her, grey eyes sad, and she pulled away from the door quickly, hoping he hadn't seen her.

"Adena?" James asked curiously.

"Coming," she said turning reluctantly away from the door. She smiled at James and they continued on their way to Charms.

When Lily and Sirius reached Charms, they stumbled upon James and Adena sitting against the wall just outside the door. This wasn't strange in itself, but they were sitting much too close to be purely platonic.

"Hey," Adena said with a smile as they approached.

"Hi," Lily said her smile seemingly forced, and slightly unfriendly. It was clear something was bothering her. She was about to say something when their professor came out and ushered them into the room.

James stood swiftly, and extended his hand for Adena to take. She did, and he pulled her effortlessly to her feet. He kissed her hand, and they entered the classroom hand in hand. Lily and Sirius hesitated, awestruck, before following them inside.

All throughout class, Adena and James passed notes and whispered to each other. They hardly paid any attention to the lesson before them. Lily and Sirius witnessed it first hand, as they sat behind them in confused silence.

When class was finally over, Adena and James walked from the room together, but had to separate almost instantly.

"Free period," Adena said. "See you later."

She leaned towards James with the intent of giving him a simple peck on the cheek, but James had the same notion and they ended up just bumping heads. Adena pulled back, looking embarrassed.

"Sorry," Adena said sheepishly. James smiled and put a hand on either side of her face. He pulled her forward and kissed her forehead lightly. Adena smiled and as James turned to leave for his next class, she couldn't help but think that Sirius' kissing her forehead had had much more of an affect on her. She turned to walk back to the Gryffindor Common Room pondering this.

"Adena?" she heard someone behind her call out.

"Hmm?" she asked, turning to see who was calling her.

"Can we, er, talk?"

"Sure…" Adena answered, eying Sirius warily.

"What are you doing?"

"I- _What_?"

"With James. What are you doing, trying to make him feel bad? He clearly likes you. Don't hurt him like this, not just to get back at me."

Adena could've sworn she felt her jaw drop.

"Excuse me, Sirius Black, but last time I checked, the world _does not_, in fact, revolve around you."

"Adena," Sirius said in a low voice.

"No, Sirius. I'm not even kidding. I'm sorry you're jealous, or whatever, but you _really_ need to get the fuck over yourself."

Sirius looked a little surprised. They had stopped walking. The halls were empty, and all was quiet besides Adena's heavy breath. Sirius stepped forward smoothly, and Adena was about to protest when Sirius covered her mouth with his own. His hand moved quickly to her neck, and he pulled her closer. He slid his tongue into her mouth, while twirling the dark curls at the base of her neck between his fingers.

Adena was taken aback, and on her natural instinct, kissed back. She was about to wrap her arm around his neck when she came to her senses and pushed him away from her. She glared at him, and only became angrier as she saw his smug look.

"That's what I thought," he said, with a smirk.

"I think you're the one who wants to make James feel bad," Adena whispered, wiping the smirk from Sirius' face. She turned on her heel, and left Sirius to stew in his own thoughts.

Adena walked back to Gryffindor Tower, and sunk into one of the old worn couches in the Common Room. She stared without seeing into the fire. She thought about what Sirius had said. He was onto her. But he had to know, she was mostly doing this to help James. And James, oh Merlin; _the idiot_. If Adena wasn't careful, she would probably find herself falling for him, too. He must not even realize how charming he actually is.

Adena looked up as Sirius walked into the room. He seemed to hesitate before deciding to walk over to Adena's couch. Adena fell quickly onto the couch, pretending to be asleep.

"Adena," he said. He paused, waiting. "Adena, I know you're not sleeping."

Adena opened one eye to look at him. He was staring straight at her. She sighed with in frustration before opening both eyes and sitting up. "Fine."

"I'm sorry," he said, catching Adena quite off guard.

"Y-you're what?" she asked.

"Sorry, Adena_. I'm sorry_," he repeated.

"Um… Alright…"

"Adena."

"What?" she wined, letting herself fall back onto the couch. She turned so her face was into the couch, and away from his prying eyes.

"Go away," she mumbled into the musty couch.

"Fine," he said, and she heard him get up and go up to his dorm.

Adena stayed with her head in the couch, and fell quickly to sleep meeting Lydia, Ben, her parents, and the Marauders in her dreams. Lily was there, too. She was mad at Adena for snogging James and no matter how many times Adena assured Lily she hadn't, she just wouldn't listen. But then, Lily told her she didn't care anymore, because she was in love with Ben, and she was going to go back to America with him, anyways. The dream only got weirder as it went on, but luckily, someone saved Adena from her strange sleep soon enough.

"Adena," someone said softly. She felt a hand push her hair out of her face. She opened her eyes to see that she was still lying on the couch in the Common Room and that someone was staring curiously down at her.

"I was wondering where you were," James asked with a chuckle, as he lifted up Adena's legs, sat on the couch, then replaced them over his.

"Huh?" Adena asked, wiping the sleep from her dreary blue eyes. James smiled at her.

"It's 4 already, Adena. You've missed your afternoon classes."

Adena shot up on the couch and looked wildly about. The Common Room was now filled with Gryffindors of all ages. She hit her forehead and fell back onto the couch with desperation, her dark curls fanning out around her.

"Shit," she whispered under her breath.

"It's alright," James comforted. "I told your professors you weren't feeling well."

"Thanks," Adena said gratefully. She took her feet off of his lap and sat up next to him. "I just… I don't know. I didn't even realize I was _that_ tired."

"It's alright. You hungry?" he asked, standing up, she nodded and took his outstretched hand and he pulled her to her feet. They walked to dinner hand in hand.

At dinner they decided they should probably tone down the theatrics a little. They sat down at the semi-empty Gryffindor table and began to eat, they talked about anything, and everything, and somehow nothing all at the same time.

Adena looked up and saw Lily entering the Hall. She looked quickly away, avoiding her emerald gaze, but when she took a peek through her curtain of curls, the redhead was nowhere to be found. Adena looked around curiously, trying to find her. James noticed this, and looked to where she was looking. No one was there.

"Adena, what-" he started but Adena shook her head wordlessly and he stopped.

Out in the Entrance Hall, Lily glared lightly at Sirius until he took his hand off of her arm. She rubbed the place where he had grabbed her arm when he'd pulled her from the Great Hall, absently.

"What do you want, Black?" she asked, a little more rudely than she'd meant.

"Jeez Evans, where's the love?" he asked sarcastically.

"So, what do you want?" she repeated, a little more kindly.

"I think James and Adena are up to something," he told her.

"Well yeah," Lily said with a snort. "Each other."

"_Evans_, I think Adena's trying to make me jealous by going out with James, and it's only going to hurt him," Sirius said quietly.

"So? Let her hurt him. Maybe it will shrink his ego some," she said coldly.

"Lily," Sirius whined. "You fancy James- _don't you even deny it, Evans_- so why aren't you bothered at all by this?"

"I'm _not_ his mother. James can date whomever he wishes," Lily told him flatly.

"C'mon," Sirius pleaded. "Just-"

"Stop it, Sirius. Look a them," she said pointing into the Hall at the loudly laughing pair. Adena was holding her side as James tried to poke her. "You can't say they don't look happy. We didn't make our moves, and now they're happy together. We_ can't_ break them up."

"Sure we- wait, what? _We_?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, Black, _we_. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to dinner," she said, taking her arm from his grip once more. She turned on her heel and walked quickly into the Great Hall for dinner.

Sirius watched her go and barely resisted punching the wall, before turning to stalk off in the opposite direction.

**AN: Ah, it seems our young Sirius is beginning to see what it is he's lost. (Or at least what he THINKS he's lost) Well. What will happen next, you ask? Tune in next time to find out! First reviewer gets dedication, and I shall love anyone who reviews FOREVER, of course. :)**

**Eternal love from, Lady Carmilla **


	9. Chapter Nine

**Disclaimer:** Hiyuh. Guess what I don't own? If you guessed Harry Potter, then you guessed right! Congratulations. :D

**I dedicate this chapter to: **major issues 4 life

**-Chapter Nine-**

Throughout the next weeks, James and Adena continued on with their seemingly perfect relationship, leaving Sirius to brood all over the place, and Lily to have random mood swings. Adena also kept quick correspondence with Lydia, sending her a new letter nearly everyday, planning her trip, and gossiping as though they still lived in the same place. It was more fun than she'd had in ages.

Adena lounged on her favourite old couch in the Common Room, like she did nearly everyday, these days. She was on her side, now, staring into the slowly crackling fire. She watched as embers flew from the burning logs and disappeared into the air, her dark curls spilling over the edge of the couch like a waterfall. She sighed deeply, very unaware of the person standing behind her couch, watching her with anxious blue eyes.

Adena rolled lazily onto her back and nearly jumped out of her skin as she looked up into that shocking blue stare she had missed so deeply. The girl before her had long blonde hair that fell down her back in elegant waves. Her Quidditch toned body accentuated by the street clothes she wore.

Adena quickly stood and nearly jumped over the couch to get to her friend. And without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her tightly. The girl laughed and hugged her back.

"Jesus, Adena. Chill out, would you? You're breaking me," she said, pulling back to look at her best friend. Adena's eyes were shining with tears. "God, Addy, you're so fucking emotional," she told her with a laugh.

"Shut up," she laughed, wiping her eyes. "I've missed you_ so_ much."

"I know," she said with a smirk.

"_Oh, Lydia_. Wait, how did you even get here? I thought you weren't coming until Christmas."

"Yeah, well, change of plans," Lydia said, her eyes darkening.

"Oh Lyd, I'm sorry," she said, knowing what she meant almost immediately.

"I didn't think he could get any worse," Lydia said coldly. "I just… I couldn't stay there any longer. Mom left, too, you know. She went to Aunt Christine's. She said it would be good for me to get away for a while, too, and to be with you."

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Adena said with a grin. "Who let you in _here_ though?"

"That old guy with the beard…" she said making a face, she hunched over, and imitated an old man. Adena laughed.

"The _headmaster_, you mean?"

"Ha, yep. I think your mom must have heard from my mom that I was coming early, because she was waiting for me when I arrived. I've never been so glad that your mother is a Healer; she brewed up a quick potion for my queasiness. Have you ever tried apparating across an ocean? God, I thought I was going to _die_. But anyways, she Flooed me here, right to the old kook. And, Jesus, if that's your headmaster, Addy, I'm so jealous; you know the Wicked Witch would _never_ just let you in to hang out with me," Lydia said, using their nickname for the headmistress at Salem Academy, as she plopped down onto one of the battered couches and looked around. "Hey… So, I get to meet the boys now, eh? _The Marauders_, right?"

Adena grinned at her friend. She knew that had been one of the things Lydia had been looking forward to most, and she knew how disappointed she'd been when she thought she wasn't going to meet them. She had told her the entire plan she'd concocted with James. Lydia thought it was funny, but swore she wouldn't give anything away.

"And I definitely need to meet this Lily; she must be awesome if you're doing all this with her reaping some benefit, eh?"

They both looked up as they heard the portrait hole open. Adena groaned as she saw who it was. He paused, looked at them, then put on what he clearly thought was a charming smile and sauntered over. Adena turned to look at Lydia's intrigued face. She groaned again. Sirius Black was _not_ the first person she wanted Lydia to meet here.

"Well, hello ladies," Sirius said smoothly. He turned to Adena. "Going to introduce me to your friend, Fire Maiden?"

"Uh, _no_," Adena said taking Lydia's arm almost protectively. Lydia looked at her curiously before turning back to Sirius and extending her slender hand.

"Lydia Blair," she introduced herself with a smile. She glanced briefly at Adena as Sirius took her hand, and kissed it.

"Sirius Black," he told her, as she drew her hand back.

"Ah, so _you're_ Sirius Black, huh?" she asked thoughtfully, she turned back to Adena. "I see what you mean."

Sirius looked at Adena curiously, and she rolled her eyes at the pair.

"C'mon," Adena said, pulling Lydia from the couch. "You've got a lot of stuff to see."

"Fine," Lydia said, with slight defeat. She turned to Sirius and waved lightly. "See you around."

Adena pulled Lydia to the portrait hole, Lydia stopped briefly at the opening to glance back at Sirius, and with a flip of her blonde hair they were out into the corridor.

"I won't lie," Lydia said as they started walking towards the Great Hall. "I'm a little disappointed. You made him sound so… _Godlike_."

"I did not!"

"Sure you did," she told her with a teasing smirk.

"Whatever," Adena said leading her friend into the Great Hall and over to the Gryffindor Table.

Students, particularly of the male persuasion, stopped mid motion to look at the entrancing blonde that seemed to be floating by. And as usual, Adena went generally unnoticed. She was much too used to this to be bothered, though. That's just normal routine when your best friend has got Veela blood running through her seemingly elegant veins, however diluted it may now be, it was Veela blood none the less.

Lydia, as usual, paid little attention to her many admirers, and went to sit where Adena pointed. They sat down with James and Remus. They were both looking only mildly dazed; James looked more phased by it than Remus, though. Adena smirked.

"James, Remus, this is my love, Lydia," Adena introduced. They nodded their hellos as Lydia batted her eyelashes. Adena snorted and spoke under her breath to her friend. "Hey, lay off, will ya? There are plenty of other guys here for you to woo with your undeniable charm and good looks."

Lydia grinned at that as James leaned over to say something to Adena quietly.

"I thought you said she wasn't coming until nearer to Christmas," James asked Adena as though Lydia wasn't sitting there; she didn't mind.

"Change of plans, long story, more later, be nice," Adena breathed. James smiled.

"Well, Lydia, welcome to Hogwarts," he said politely.

"Thanks," she said brightly. "I'm starved."

She turned to look at the food before her. She quickly began piling food onto her plate as more Gryffindors started to file in. Sirius came in first, looking annoyed with Lily and Julia close behind. His point of annoyance was made quite obvious, though, as Bridget flounced in behind them.

"Sirius! Wait up, Siri," she called out to him, and he continued, to ignore her as he came to sit next to Adena.

"She _won't_ leave me alone!" he said angrily, making sure Julia sat next to him, leaving Bridget no chance to sit next to him. He turned back to the disappointed brunette. "Please, just bugger off. I don't like you, so _stop_ following me around."

"B-But-"

"Go on," he repeated, motioning for her to leave. She glared at Adena once she caught sight of her smug look, and turned to stomp out of the Hall.

"Merlin, I thought she'd _never_ leave," he groaned under his breath. Lydia and Adena caught each other's eye, and shared a look before breaking out into laughter. The rest of the Gryffindors stared at them blankly, which only made them laugh harder.

"God, I missed this," Lydia said, wiping her eyes.

"Oh, this is Lydia, by the way," Adena said, realizing she had yet to introduce her friend to the latest additions at their table. She turned to her friend and pointed as she spoke, "That's Lily, and that's Julia."

"Nice to meet you, Lydia," Julia said politely and Lily nodded in agreement. Adena looked at the pair curiously as they began to speak to each other in hushed tones. Lydia caught her attention, though, and they quickly began to talk about other things.

"Oh," Adena said suddenly. "What about Ben?"

Lydia laughed to herself. "Ben? I don't know, he'll probably just come himself, you know he would never pass up the opportunity to see _you_."

Adena shot her friend a look that clearly said 'don't say anything stupid' then answered as though it hadn't happened.

"Did he know you were leaving?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not _completely_ cold-hearted," Lydia said rather indignantly. "I left him a note."

"Oh-ho. A note, that's _so_ completely warm-hearted," Adena said with a snort.

"You _know_ I can hardly stand that boy. And I thought for sure when you left, he wouldn't hang around me anymore, but Jesus, the kid's got no other friends. You were his only fucking friend," Lydia said, chewing on a half naked chicken bone.

"Shut up, Lyd. You know you don't hate him _that_ much. He's not that bad, he's just a little-"

"Obsessive? Crazy? Addicted?"

"Shut it. He's not crazy, he's just-"

"Crazy?" Lydia asked innocently, Adena gave her a look before attempting to change the subject.

"No, no, no you don't, Addy. Don't you fucking change the subject. You _do_ think he's crazy, don't you?"

"You know I don't, Lydia," Adena said flatly.

"_Oh_, right, I remember now," Lydia said with a highly theatrical wink. Adena shook her head at her friend, but had a huge grin spread happily across her face. She really _had_ missed this.

"God, shut up, Lyd," Adena said playfully.

"Are you going to show me anything else around here, or what?" Lydia asked, raising one thin eyebrow as her cerulean eyes scanned the hall.

"C'mon," Adena said with a sigh, and she led the bouncing blonde on a tour of the castle.

----------X----------

Lydia rolled over on the cot that had been conjured for her upon her arrival. She looked groggily up at the dorm window. It was still dark out. This had to be the third time she'd woken up tonight. She didn't know why, either. She rolled onto her back, her blonde locks fanning out on her pillow and spilling over the edge of her bed in abundance. She sighed, and stared into the darkness at the ceiling before hoisting herself up and out of her lumpy cot. She glanced over at the sleeping form of her best friend before tiptoeing out of the dorm.

Once she'd closed the door quietly, she turned, and with a sigh trudged down to the Common Room. She was quite surprised to find it occupied once she'd reached it. She glanced at the clock above the dimming fire; it was four in the morning. Before she was even able to step off of the last stair, and attempt to make her presence known, the person seated with his back to her on the couch turned his gray blue eyes on her. She gasped slightly.

"Oh!" She stopped at her place by the stairs for a moment, as the boy looked curiously at her. After a moments pause, she continued towards the fire.

"Hello," she said brightly. She looked at him closely, trying to place his countenance as he nodded hello. "Oh! You're… ah, don't say it. Oh, I know it!"

She looked at him again, taking in his tired appearance. He was laughing at her. She stopped her race to name him, but moved forward to sit next to him on the shabby couch.

"_What_?"

"Nothing," he said in a voice that clearly said it was _not_ nothing, but he brushed it off. "So, are you going to guess, or do I have to tell you?"

"No, no! I'll get it… R… Raymond… Robert… Rasheed-"

"Oh yeah, that's it. My name is definitely Rasheed," the boy said trying to contain his laughter.

"I was _kidding_, it's Remus," she said rather flatly. Remus stopped laughing and stared at her.

"Were we even introduced?"

"Not formally. I got a hasty 'This-is-James-and-Remus-but-let's-not-pay-them-any-mind-and-don't-act-so-alluring' from Adena and then the subject was changed," she said, using a whiny high-pitched voice, one very unlike Adena's, to mimic her. Remus laughed at the impersonation. It _was_ basically what Adena had done, after all.

"Well, then, Miss America, why don't tell me about yourself," he said, making Lydia snort at the comparison he had made, but let it go.

"What's there to tell?"

"Well, I figure you've probably got Veela blood in you, right? The way you make guys stop and look is, no offense, not natural. Although, the guys here aren't much for gentlemen, that's beside the point," Remus told her.

"I- Well, yeah, I have got Veela blood, but how did you- I mean, it clearly doesn't affect you," she stated, a little surprised at his sudden accusation.

"Well, I… I'm just not affected that easily by things like Veela," he said vaguely, while avoiding her eye. Lydia wracked her brain trying to think of some reason why a wizard would be able to resist Veelan charm and not want to talk about it. She took the cue though, and changed the subject. She would have to look into it later.

"So… How about our friends, huh? What a crazy bunch. What's going on there?" Lydia asked, making Remus laugh gratefully at her very unsubtle, but highly appreciated subject change.

"Well, James loves Lily, and is going out with Adena, while Sirius loves Adena and is basically ruining that relationship before it even started by messing around with Bridget," Remus told her.

"That slutty brunette that was following him around?" Lydia asked.

"That's the one," Remus said.

"Oh, I see. And where does that leave you?" she asked, almost suggestively.

"Well," he said, eying her. "That leaves me here."

"… Sitting in the Common Room at 4AM talking to some nosy American you just met?" she asked cocking her head. Remus chuckled.

"Yep. That's exactly where it leaves me."

"And… You're ok with that?"

"I think, for now, I am, yes," he told her quietly.

"Alright," she said with a smile. "So, uh, tell me about yourself, Remus."

"I do believe I asked you that first and you revealed… _nothing_ about yourself."

"I told you I was part Veela!" Lydia said defensively.

"I guessed that," Remus reminded her.

"Well, sure but I could have said I wasn't," she said slyly. "So it counts."

"Fine," Remus said with a quiet chuckle. "What do you want to know?"

"Well," Lydia said thoughtfully. She looked up at Remus, and hesitated before continuing. "Why… Ah, why aren't you affected by the Veela in me?"

Remus eyed her, warily. He had figured she would ask that, but he had really hoped he was wrong. She stared expectantly up at him. Remus couldn't help but trust her calm blue eyes. They searched each other's eyes until the intensity was overwhelming. Lydia looked down at the folded hands in her lap.

"Sorry," she mumbled, fingering the hem of her shirt. "You don't have to-"

She stopped when she felt his hand under her chin. He lifted her face to look him in the eye.

"Don't worry," he breathed before leaning forward and kissing her softly. Lydia responded immediately, deepening the kiss. She ran a hand instinctively through his sandy blonde hair. He quickly pulled back though, causing Lydia to look at him in a sort of hurt confusion.

"Wh-" she began.

"Sorry," he said roughly, looking away from her and into the fire.

"No, don't be. Just be sorry you stopped," Lydia said, reaching her hand out towards him, he grabbed it however, and it dropped back into her lap.

"I'm sorry," he repeated more firmly. Lydia quickly stood from the couch, Remus looked up at her in surprise. "What?"

"God, I'm such an idiot," she said, ignoring him. "I can't believe I almost just… again…"

Remus' looks of confusion only deepened.

"Lydia, what-" he began, but Lydia turned her deep blue eyes on him, and he stopped.

"Just… I don't know, are you really a-"

"Lydia," Remus said in a kind of warning tone.

"You're a Werewolf," she said, and it wasn't a question. Remus looked at her curiously; the look in her eyes wouldn't let him lie to her.

"How, uh, how'd you know?"

"I just, well, it doesn't matter. You are one," she said.

"I'm sorry if I… I mean, I understand if you don't, uh, want to, you know… Talk to me an-"

"Oh God, no. Shut up. I don't _care_," she said, sitting next to him once more. "Back home, my school is filled with Werewolves. Salem isn't exactly a hard academy to get into. They're almost desperate these days. Oh! No offense, of course. God, I sound like I think Werewolves are idiots, or something. I don't think that though, I swear," Lydia said rapidly. She realized with a groan that she was starting to ramble. She looked up at Remus, only to find him looking rather amused. "What? I-"

And she was just preparing for another rant when her lips were covered once more by Remus'. He pulled back after a moment and looked at her dazed expression with a chuckle.

"Don't worry about it," he said, before standing and heading off towards the staircase back to his dorm. Lydia stared after him in wonderment. She didn't even bother going back up to bed, since Adena would probably be waking her up in an hour's time, as it was now after 5, anyways. Instead she decided to take a little self-led tour of the castle. Perhaps not her greatest idea yet.

**AN****: Ok… Please… Don't… Hate… Me… -ducks- Because I completely understand that this story is supposed to be Sirius/OC, yeah? And I completely understand that the kind of sudden change of main character (for this chappie, at least) may not be to your fancy, but please don't be mad, eh? It's just… Well, I love Lydia dearly. And I thought she needed a little something to look forward to, you know? And who better than everyone's favourite misunderstood and over exploited Werewolf, Remy? So… All in all, I think you must know that I didn't actually intend for said pair to take up so much of this chapter. It just happened. I apologize to anyone who dislikes this. But, you know what they say. **Things are gettin' better all the time**. Who says that you ask? Me, apparently.**

**And also, I really just felt the need to finally update before I leave, because I'm leaving, in like five days, to go to Europe for 10 days, and then right after, I'll be camping for 5 more. So there won't be an update in kind of a while… But hey, I think this is my longest chapter yet! I am also hoping to get a lot of writing done while I'm away, though. So look alive. As soon as I come back, you can expect a new update. But until then I leave you with those famous last words:**

Please review, for the first of you, I shall have to, Dedicate the next chapter to!

**ROFLMFAO. Ok. I didn't even start that out with the intention of a cute little rhyme. It just kind of happened… But hey, all the more incentive to review, don't you think? I sure do. :D**

**-Lots of freaking love from, Lady Carmilla. **


	10. Chapter Ten

**Disclaimer:** The amazing HP universe does_ not_ belong to Moi; I just borrow it for my stories. You know what's mine. Enjoy!

**I dedicate this chapter to: **rockstar-101

**-Chapter Ten-**

Adena woke to the feeling of the warm rising sun shining on her relaxed face. She squinted and looked away, while quickly rubbing the discomfort from her groggy blue eyes. She casually rolled onto her side so she could see if Lydia was up yet, just like she had done throughout years of rooming with her. She sat straight up in her bed, though, when she saw her friend's bed empty, the sheets hanging off unceremoniously. She pulled off her covers, and quickly regretted it as cold air rushed to all the places that had previously been covered. She threw her legs over the side of the bed, though and quietly made her way into the hallway, glancing out the window as she went.

It looked as though the sun was only just about to rise, and she wondered worriedly what Lydia could possibly be doing up this early. She made her way down into the Common Room to find it empty but for one person. She groaned quietly as she saw who the one person was. Who else, but Sirius Black?

"Ah, good morning, love," he said in a cheery voice.

"Morning," she grumbled irritably.

"What's the matter?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing," she said shortly as she turned back towards her staircase, thinking, and hoping, maybe Lydia had been in the bathroom, or had got lost and stumbled into someone else's dorm. She stopped though, and turned back to Sirius when a thought struck her. "_The map_."

"…What?" Sirius said looking bewildered.

"Do you have the map on you? Or can you get it…?" she asked rapidly.

"I don't know, it might be up in my dorm, why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Lydia got herself lost, I think. I can't find her; can I look for her on the map,_ please_?" Adena pleaded.

"If I have it," he said, standing from the chair he'd occupied. He started towards his own staircase, and Adena followed, not caring if he wanted her to or not. He walked quickly up the stairs, and Adena followed two at a time. Once they'd reached his dorm, he turned to her with his finger to his mouth.

"Quiet," he whispered, nodding at the sleeping form of three Seventh Year boys that Adena recognized as two of his fellow Marauders and a boy named Frank, or Fred, or something that she couldn't quite remember. "My roomies are sleeping."

He opened the door slowly, and crept in, keeping an eye on Remus, who was an infamously light sleeper. He shuffled quietly to the bed that had belonged to James before he was crowned Head Boy, and rummaged through the bedside table next to it. It didn't take him very long to locate it. When he did, he lifted it over his head triumphantly.

Sirius then turned to leave, motioning for Adena to follow. She did, feeling a little better about the situation. She knew how the map worked, and she knew they'd find Lydia soon enough. Even if she was just lost in some first year's dorm. And Adena wouldn't put that past Lydia.

Once they'd made it back to the Common Room, Sirius resituated himself in the chair he'd previously occupied, and laid out a blank piece of parchment on the table before him. Adena did a double take as she sat on the ground in front of it. She looked at Sirius curiously, and he smiled, and took out his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he whispered, while waving his wand over the paper. Adena watched in amazement as a map of the castle and its grounds fluidly filled out in front of her own eyes. She watched as a little dot appeared in the Gryffindor Common Room that was labeled, '_Adena Sanguina'_. She couldn't help but marvel at it. Sure, she had heard about the map, but until now, she hadn't actually seen it.

"You made it sound like you use it all the time," Sirius said, and Adena looked up to find him watching her, an amused expression on his face. She couldn't help but blush, and looked down at the map, when she answered, trying to nonchalantly cover her face with her hair.

"Uh, yeah… All the time…." she said, as she searched the map for her friend.

"There's an easier way, but I'm sure you know it, right, _Map Guru_?" Sirius said, with a chuckle.

"Fine. I haven't used it before," Adena said quickly. "Now find Lydia for me, please."

"As you wish," Sirius said with a mocking bow. He drew his wand once more, and waved it over the map, whilst whispering something to himself. Almost right away, Adena took notice of the dot on the map that suddenly seemed to be glowing.

"The Astronomy Tower? What in the hell is she doing _there_?" Adena said, standing up. "Gods, Lydia."

She turned and started towards the portrait hole. She had walked only a few steps before she thought of something and turned around. But just as she did, she ran smack into Sirius' chest; Sirius had apparently been planning on following her to retrieve her friend. Adena looked up at him curiously.

"What are you doing?" she asked, cocking her head.

"What are…. _You_ doing?" he asked raising an eyebrow, causing Adena shake her head.

"I'm _obviously_ going to get Lydia," she told him matter-of-factly.

"Well, I'm _obviously_ going with you," Sirius replied in the same tone.

"….Why?"

"Hey, remember this?" Sirius asked sarcastically, waving the map, which was blank once more, in front of her face. "I don't think I need to explain myself. You owe me, anyways."

Adena eyed him suspiciously.

"I saved you a lot of running around with this baby, didn't I?" he said smugly.

"I- I suppose you did…" Adena admitted. "Fine, let's just go."

Adena turned around once more, and headed for the portrait hole. Once they were out into the corridor, they headed quickly towards the Astronomy Tower. Adena glanced out a window as they made their way, and saw that the sun was almost completely risen. She groaned when she then realized she was still in her night clothes. And that people would probably be making their way down to breakfast soon. They really had to hurry.

They continued the rest of the way, mostly in silence. Once they'd finally reached the tower, Adena breathed a sigh of relief to see her friend leaning against the ledge as she looked out over the castle grounds.

"Lydia!" she said in a sort of a half relieved, half scolding voice. Lydia turned around, and looked relieved to see her friend standing there.

"Oh gods, Adena," she said, walking towards the pair. "I was just going to walk around; I didn't think I went that far. And then I couldn't remember which way I came from. Addy, all the corridors here look the same!"

"I know, Lyd," Adena said, grabbing her arm, and pulling her towards the door. "I would've had it real hard if Sirius and James didn't take me everywhere."

"Oh, hi, Sirius," Lydia said sweetly as they started to walk back towards their common room.

"Hello," he said shortly. "Adena, why are you walking so bloody fast?"

"Uh… Have you looked at me lately? I have to go get ready for class. And I really don't want to be walking down the hallway looking like this when the entire school starts making it's way down to breakfast," Adena told him, as though it were obvious.

"Oh, I see…" Sirius said, even though he really didn't. He glanced at Lydia to see that she was shaking her head at Adena as she pulled her along the hall. She let her though. She didn't mind letting Adena boss her around. She was kind of like her second mother.

Once they finally made it back to the Common Room, Adena found it a little easier to slow down since it didn't seem like that many people were even awake yet. She wasn't that much off schedule.

"Come on, Lydia," Adena said, leading her towards the girl's staircase. She'd only made it up the first few stairs though, before she remembered something else. She told Lydia to keep going, and turned back towards the common room. Sirius looked up at her curiously, as she walked towards him.

"Thanks for helping me, Sirius," she said, before throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug. Sirius didn't move for a moment, as he was frozen in shock, but came to his senses quickly enough to hug her back before she pulled away. She smiled thankfully up at him, and he couldn't help but smile back.

"Any time," he said quietly, as she turned to head back up to her dorm.

----------X----------

"So…" Lydia said, nonchalantly. "Make it obvious you love Sirius, much?"

Adena nearly choked on her food at her friend's words. She coughed loudly for a moment before taking a swig of pumpkin juice. She took a deep breath and glared across the table at Lydia's smirking face.

"How many times have I asked you to not say thing like that while I'm eating? And no, I _don't_ love Sirius," Adena added as an after thought.

"Sure you don't. That's why you were up with him at 6 in the morning when you randomly decided to come find me. _And_," Lydia said quickly, as Adena tried to defend herself. "That's also why you had to run back down into the Common Room to give him a hug, right, Addy?"

"How'd you know that's what I did?" Adena asked with a scowl.

"Because I followed you back down, _obviously_," Lydia said, in a voice that suggested that Adena should expect these things by now.

"Well, I needed to thank him, is all. If it wasn't for him, I'd_ still_ be looking for you," Adena said pointedly.

"How did he help you, anyways?" Lydia asked, as James and Remus came to sit next to them, where they had secluded themselves from the rest of the Gryffindors. Remus and Lydia shared a shy smile, which didn't go unnoticed by Adena, but she'd just have to remember to ask Lydia later.

"How did who help you?" James asked Adena as he pulled some bacon onto his plate.

"Uh, Sirius," she replied absently, then she returned her attention back to Lydia. "He just had a better way than actually searching the entire castle for you. It made things a lot easier, and a lot quicker."

"Uh… Ok, because that clears up everything, for me," Lydia said sarcastically.

"What're you guys talking about?" Remus asked curiously.

"Lydia-" Adena began.

"Nothing," Lydia said at the same time. The boys in front of them eyed them suspiciously.

"She got lost," Adena said quickly, before Lydia could stop her. Adena knew she didn't want them to know. Lydia always had a distinct distaste for people thinking she was, as she would say, "weak". Even though in reality, getting lost in a place you've never been doesn't really classify you as weak, Lydia apparently thought it did.

"Oh," James said with a laugh. "You made it sound so serious."

"You rang?" Sirius said as he plopped down beside James and started shoveling food onto his plate.

"How do you always manage to show up when someone says that?" James asked, mildly annoyed.

"Call it my seventh sense," Sirius said, waving his hand.

"….What's your sixth sense then?" Remus asked.

"Um…" Sirius said thoughtfully. "You know, I don't know…"

"C'mon, Lyd, looks like you get to come to class with me," Adena said, rising from her seat. Lydia groaned.

"I didn't come here so I could do all the work I'm missing at home," she said stubbornly.

"What else have you honestly got to do?" Adena asked. "And maybe, if you at least go to class, and the teachers can vouch for that, you can get like, credit for it, or something. Because think of all the work you're missing. You can't honestly think the Wicked Witch is just going to let you off the hook because you decided you wanted to come visit me, her _favourite _student besides _you_."

Lydia stared at her friend wide-eyed.

"You think I'm going to have to make up the work?" she asked, clearly appalled at the thought.

"Uh, probably. This is hardly a good reason, by her terms at least, to miss like 5 weeks of school," Adena told her. She groaned again, and rose from her seat.

"Oh my God, Addy, I never even thought of that! Ugh, do you think this'll work? If I go to class with you?" Lydia asked hopefully as they started to walk from the hall.

"Maybe. I don't know. I mean, I'm sure my teachers wouldn't mind, and Dumbledore could scrounge up some obscure reason as to why you randomly wanted to come to school here, or something, and back it up. I just don't know if she'll buy it," Adena said, thoughtfully as they began walking up the first staircase they came to. "I can have James talk to Dumbledore about it later; I think he said he has a meeting with him tonight."

"OH MY GOD, ADDY!" Lydia nearly screamed, causing Adena to whip around and face the frantic blonde.

"What is it, Lydia?!?" She asked worriedly.

"It's gonna be just like old times," Lydia told her happily. Adena laughed at her friend and shook her head.

"You are such a loser, Lydia!" she said, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was laughing at her friend. Lydia smiled brightly.

"You know you love it," she said with a grin. Adena couldn't help but grin back. She threw her arm around her shoulder and they continued on their way to Charms.

"So,_ Lydia_, what's with you and _Remus_?" Adena asked her friend whilst wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

"_Nothing_!" Lydia said all too quickly.

"You know you're a horrible liar," Adena said reasonably.

"Only with you, it seems," Lydia said honestly.

"That's cos I know you, doll. Now, _spill_," she said as they reached the Charms classroom. It looked like they were early, so they took a seat on the floor outside the door. Lydia glanced at Adena to see her looking back at her expectantly.

"Fine," she said, grudgingly, even though Adena knew she'd probably been dying to tell her about it. "Well, I couldn't really sleep all night, I kept waking up. So finally, I went down to the Common Room, and he was there." She spoke rapidly. "So we started talking and whatever, and he just… _kissed me_."

"Time out, Lyd. Did he kiss _you_, or did he kiss the Veela in you?" Adena asked, knowing that the latter happened only too often to her poor friend.

"Me, Addy! I swear it _had_ to be me," she said confidently. "He knows I've got Veela in me. He figured it out, and it turns out he-" she stopped abruptly, and looked at the ground.

"What? Lydia, what is it?" Adena asked worriedly.

"It's just, he told me something, and I don't think he'd want me to tell other people…" she admitted.

"When have I _ever_ told someone one of your secrets, you dunce?" Adena asked, sounding offended. Lydia grinned.

"Right you are m'dear. Well…" Lydia looked around quickly before leaning towards Adena to whisper something into her ear.

"Oh," Adena said with a laugh. "I know. I figured it out, already. He's always leaving around that certain time, and his excuses are worse than yours, love."

"Really?" Lydia said, with a laugh. "That bad?"

Adena nodded. "So, d'you like him, or what?"

"Well, yeah. I suppose," she admitted quietly.

"Oh Gods, Lyd. Imagine it. You can go out with him, and I'll be going out with Sirius, and we can be crazy Marauder girlfriends," Adena said, with a laugh.

"_James_, Adena. You're going out with James," Lydia said sharply. Adena looked at her, mildly horrified.

"What did I say?" she asked, not sure she wanted to know.

"_Sirrrrrrrrrrr-iussssssss_," Lydia said in a singsong voice. "_Adena loves Sirius Blaaaaaa-aaaaaaack_."

"I do not," Adena said loudly. "Shut it, you."

Lydia complied, and stopped teasing her, but that didn't mean she could grin wickedly, or wink dramatically at her every chance she got. They stood when the charms professor appeared by the door, and unlocked it, he looked curiously at Lydia, and when he entered the classroom, Adena followed, intending to explain Lydia's situation. Lydia bounced in behind Adena, and someone who had been lingering around the corner sidled in behind them, and took her usual seat in the front, looking mildly surprised at what she had just heard. Her long auburn hair swung around to cover her face as she contemplated what she'd just heard.

----------X----------

"Oi, Black. Can I have a word with you?" Lily said sweetly, sidling up next to him as he was about to walk into the Great Hall for dinner. He turned sideways to look at her curiously. He told his friends to go ahead, and they did, and they had apparently not had any original plan of waiting for him, either, as they didn't even stop to ask questions, and hurried in the hall to stuff their faces.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously once they were alone.

"I think I may have changed my mind about what you said, with Adena and James," she told him, quietly.

"Why?" he repeated, but with more curiosity obvious in his voice than before.

"I just… Well, I heard a conversation that seemed to shed some light on things. _Maybe_," she added as an afterthought.

"Oh really? A conversation between…?" he asked inquisitively.

"Adena and Lydia," she told him quietly.

"What'd they say?" he asked quickly, sounding a lot more interested now.

"No way Black, I'm not going to go around telling people about private conversations. Especially ones I wasn't even supposed to be in on," she told him. "But just know that I may have changed my mind. Keep an eye open, eh?"

And with that she turned her back and sauntered back into the Great Hall. Sirius watched her go in wonderment. What could she have possibly heard to change her mid so abruptly?

"What _are _you doing…?" a voice broke into his thoughts, and he turned to find Adena and Lydia trying not to laugh. He assumed they were laughing at his expense and grumbled something about thinking.

"Huh, who knew?" Adena said with a sideways smirk to her friend, who said something back to her, causing her to throw her head back in laughter. Sirius had no idea what could have possibly made her laugh that hard, but all he could think about was how damn beautiful she looked when she laughed, and how much he wanted to make her laugh like that. She seemed to radiate with the laughter, and her eyes danced with-.

_Where the hell did that come from? _Sirius couldn't help but wonder as he watched them disappear into the Great Hall happily. Sure, Adena was pretty, he had always thought that, but what was all that other stuff about?

He shook his head and followed the same path they'd taken into the Great Hall to appease his rumbling stomach. He'd worry about the other stuff later.

**AN: YEY! I'm not dead! Woohoo! Nah. I was, like I had said before, on something of a vacation. It was brilliant, but now I'm back, and ready for action. I didn't get much writing done while I was gone, most unfortunately, but it's all good. This one is… Longer than some of the other chapters, but it still doesn't seem that long to me. I'm sorry, dudes. I really wanted it to be a long one; a nice long chapter, I think, is well deserved for your long wait. **

**But alas, it's hard for me to extend a chapter past its potential without making the ending crap. I tried guys. And I am eternally in love with you all for putting up with the wait. Anywho. Hope you liked this chappie. Things are starting to pick up, I think. Who knows what that crazy Sirius is going to do next? Hell, I don't even know. xD**

**Alright. First reviewer gets chapter dedication, as always. And to everyone else, don't let that discourage you; any review gets you eternal love from me! **

You guys rock!  
**Love always, Lady Carmilla. **


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: **Guess who doesn't own _Harry Potter_? Yeah, that's right, Lady Carmilla doesn't. You know what's mine. Enjoy!

**I dedicate this chapter to: **rockstar-101

**-Chapter Eleven-**

As the days wore on, the season slowly started to change from autumn to winter. The days grew shorter and colder, and the excitement around the castle began to build up again; the Christmas holiday was fast approaching. Adena couldn't help but notice that Sirius seemed to be growing farther and farther from her and she couldn't help but be reminded of the same thing when she'd dated Josh. She didn't like it.

Adena glanced up from her place at the couch as she heard a tap on the window of the otherwise quiet common room. She jumped up and nearly bounded to the window so she could let the unfamiliar owl in. It held out its leg, and as soon as she'd taken the letter addressed to her, it flew off again.

She closed the window quickly, so as not to let anymore cold air into the warm room. She curiously inspected the letter as she walked back to her couch. She looked around anxiously, as was her latest habit, and ripped the letter open as she sat down once more, facing the dying fire.

_Dearest Adena, (And Lydia, I guess…)_

_Hello! How art thou? Ha ha, this is Ben; if you haven't noticed. And I just want to recheck the holiday plans. Since Lydia left (Tell her thanks for that _very _uninformative note) I guess I'm in charge of that, huh? Well, I do hope this letter is finding you well, and reply quickly if you don't mind, you know how my mother gets. Hope to see you soon!_

_Love from, Ben._

Adena stared down at the note wide-eyed. She had completely forgotten about Ben. She hit her forehead in scolding frustration and fell back down onto the couch unceremoniously.

This changed things a bit. Ben didn't know Adena was 'going out' with James, because she knew he wouldn't like that. Ben probably wouldn't even like James at all. Even though James could be a complete sweetheart, she knew he had his arrogant bullying moments, and even if they are few and far between these days, Adena was quite certain it would only take one incident for Ben to change his mind forever about James. And Sirius for that matter.

Adena sighed deeply, and drummed her fingers absently on her stomach, deep in thought. She tilted her head curiously up at a sudden noise to her right. She couldn't see anything, though, as all of her hair fell into her face, covering her eyes. She sat up quickly, trying to push the hair out of her face, she could hear a slightly muffled laughter, and it was, once more, to her right.

She stood quickly and whipped around to see Sirius standing at the bottom of the boy's staircase trying not to laugh out loud.

"What?" Adena asked, sharply. He stopped laughing and looked at her a moment before walking over and sitting on the couch she'd been occupying.

"Nothing," he said, innocently. Adena eyed him.

"What- Hey! Gimme that!" Adena said suddenly, as Sirius picked up the letter she'd gotten from Ben. He turned his back to her, so she couldn't reach it. She protested loudly and tried reaching over his shoulder to get it.

Her attempts were in vain, though. He read it quickly, as it wasn't a long note at all, and he turned back to her, causing her to topple over and nearly off the couch. Sirius managed to grab her arm, though, before she fell. He pulled her back up, but didn't let go of her arm.

"He's still coming here?" he asked, the scowl evident in his features.

"Yes," she told him, slightly amused. She eyed him knowingly. "Of course he is, why?"

Sirius was silent for a moment. Then he loosened his grip on her arm and answered. "No reason."

She pulled her arm from his grip completely and leaned back against the arm of the couch. She was still watching him closely, trying to figure out what he was thinking as he stared into the smoldering fireplace. Adena realized then that he had yet to look her in the face. Or for that matter, in the eye.

"Sirius," she said quietly. Her tone of voice made him look at her, but only briefly, as he turned back to the fire.

"Huh?" he asked the fire.

"Sirius," she said more firmly, and when he didn't look at her, she brought her hand to his face, and forced him to.

"What, Adena?" he asked in a somewhat strangled voice.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" she asked quietly, keeping her hand on his face.

"I- uh," he started, his grey eyes still not on her.

"And _why_ won't you look at me!" she asked, sounding put off. This got his attention. He looked up to see a troubled look in her cerulean eyes.

"Oh, Adena, I just… I-" he cut himself off as he heard a voice just outside the portrait hole. Adena dropped her hand from his face quickly, as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open to reveal a slightly out of breath boy. He ducked cautiously into the hole in the wall, his tall form stumbling slightly.

He turned his searching brown eyes on the pair near the fire. He quickly recognized one of them, and grinned happily.

"Adena!" he exclaimed as he rushed over to the bewildered girl, who had stood upon his entering.

"B-Ben?" she said in a voice that clearly said, _What the hell?_ "Uh, hey, what-"

He cut her off as he enveloped her in a tight hug. She squealed automatically as he lifted her from the ground and spun her around once. He put her back down, and even when her hands left his neck, his remained around her waist. He looked down at her and smiled. She smiled back, and pulled casually away from him.

"How have you been, Addy?" he asked, and he cupped her face. "Beautiful as ever," he said running his thumb over her cheek.

Adena blushed and brushed his hand away from her face. He took to holding her hand happily, instead.

"Ben," she said in a kind of warning tone. He released her hand looking crestfallen. "I'm fine, but what are you doing here already? I only _just_ got your letter."

"Oh, yeah," he said with a bright grin towards the letter that lay on the table. "I-"

"Excuse me," came an irritated voice from behind them. Adena glanced at Sirius. He was where she'd left him, on the couch, and he looked thoroughly annoyed. "But how in the bloody hell did you get in here? I personally don't feel very safe if the Fat Lady is just letting in random prats in the middle of the night," he said matter-of-factly.

"And who are you, exactly? And what on _Earth_ is a prat?" Ben asked, blocking Adena from view as he stood in front of her.

"Sirius Black," he said coldly, ignoring his second question. He stood, towering over him. "And you, boy?"

"Boy? Hardly," he scoffed, but introduced himself anyways. "Ben; Ben Harper."

Neither of them extended their hands to shake. They only stood and sized each other up carefully.

"Um, hello," Adena said, sounding frustrated. She stepped around Ben, and onto the couch, so she could get in between them. She stepped back off the couch with her back to Sirius. She looked up at Ben curiously. "How _did _you get in here?"

Ben grinned. "Turns out my mom knows Dumbledore somehow, so when I mentioned him, she owled him and I Flooed right into his office. He told me where to go, gave me the password, and sent me on my way."

Adena seemed to contemplate that. "Oh."

"Yeah, I know I'm a bit early, though, huh? Dumbledore told me you have classes until Wednesday," he said, then looked around. "Where's Lydia?"

"Sleeping," Adena answered absently.

"What are our plans for the holiday, anyways? Are we going to your place? I haven't seen your mom in ages."

"Uh, yeah, I guess, although I've been asked to, um, someone else's for a bit, too," she said evasively. She didn't want to bring up James just yet.

"Oh, well tell her you can't go, or-"

"No, I, uh have to go. But don't worry, I'll work it out," Adena said hastily.

Sirius seemed to have noticed that Ben was being misled, he wondered why. Adena felt him shift behind her, and she elbowed him in warning, knowing his thoughts exactly.

"Oh, well, ok then," Ben said, though he was now eyeing the pair curiously.

"You seem fun," Sirius said suddenly in a sarcastic tone from behind Adena. "I bet James will just _love_ you."

Adena hit her forehead in obvious frustration, while Ben cocked his head at her.

"Who?"

"Oh, James? Oh he's just-"

"Her boyfriend," Sirius interjected quickly. Adena closed her eyes almost painfully; she didn't want to see the look on Ben's face when he heard that.

"Y-You're boyfriend?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, Ben, my boyfriend," Adena said, glancing at him cautiously, he seemed to have brushed it off by then.

"Oh yeah? Lucky guy," he said with a grin.

"Indeed," agreed Sirius. "Now where will you be sleeping, m'boy?"

Ben looked a little taken aback.

"Uh… I'm not really sure…." Ben said glancing hopefully towards Adena. She shook her head sympathetically.

"Sorry, it's just like Salem. You can't even go up there. But you know…" she began and glanced cautiously back at Sirius. "No one's using James' bed up in his dorm," she said pointing her thumb over her shoulder at Sirius.

"Why?" Ben asked curiously.

"Oh," Adena said blushing. "James is Head Boy. The Head students have their own dorms."

"_Head Boy_, Addy?" he asked with a groan.

"Um, yeah. I know, but he's not like-" Ben held up his hand to silence her.

"Ok, I'll take his bed. Where is that? I'm beat," he said with a stifled yawn.

"Oh, uh, up there," she said pointing to the boy's staircase. "And down the hall until you find the on that says '7th years'."

"Alright, I'll find it. Good night then," he said, moving forward to kiss her forehead. "I've missed you Addy."

And with that, he turned and followed the directions she'd given him. She watched him go, and once he was gone, she plopped down on the couch once more. She sighed.

"I don't like him," Sirius said, sitting next to her.

"Really? I didn't even notice," she said sarcastically. "And it's not like I asked you to, anyways," she added stubbornly.

"I think I'll go make sure he hasn't attacked my dorm mates, or rummaged through my trunk of something…" he said, standing up. He looked into Adena's eyes and sucked in his breath, quickly. "Good night, Fire Maiden."

Adena couldn't help but smile at his retreating back, as he made his way up to his dorm.

----------X----------

The next morning, Ben pounced on Adena as soon as she'd stepped off the last stair. Lydia was less than amused.

"What are_ you_ doing here?" she said in a rather unpleasant tone. "I thought you would've been discouraged when I left."

"Sorry, Lyd, it's not that easy to get rid of me," he said happily, making Lydia scowl.

"Apparently not. Can we go eat now?"

"Of course, let's go," Adena said thankfully, leading the pair from the common room.

They were greeted with many stares as they entered the hall. Most of the guys' eyes gravitated towards Lydia, as usual, and instead of the girls looking at her with distain, they now let their gazes fall upon Ben. He was intriguing to them. Besides his being moderately good-looking, he was something different to look at.

Adena led them to their usual spot, where the Marauders were already waiting. They sat down, and Adena began to introduce them.

"Marauders," she said, "this is Ben. Ben this is James, Remus, Peter, and of course, you know Sirius." She pointed to them respectively. Adena noticed how Ben had perked up at James' name, and they now seemed to be sizing each other up. She shook her head.

"You went to school with him?" James asked Adena suspiciously as though Ben wasn't even there to hear it.

"Yes, dear," she said. She couldn't help the blush that sprung to her cheeks when she said 'dear'. No one else seemed to notice, she was relieved to see.

"Actually, James, do you want to, um, go…?" Adena asked him sheepishly.

"Oh sure," he said, eating one last sausage. He stood.

Adena leaned down to whisper into Lydia's ear. "Keep an eye on him," she said, nodding towards Ben.

Lydia rolled her eyes, but obliged. Adena joined James at the end of the table and they walked out of the Great Hall together. Once they were out, they walked to what had become their usual secret passage and opened it; it was empty as usual.

Adena entered, and leaned against the wall; James stood in front of her.

"He's like a lovesick puppy," James said with slight disgust evident in his voice.

"I know, I know, but he's still a good guy," Adena said defensively.

"Adena," he said suddenly. "I don't think this is working."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I thought she was supposed to be jealous?"

"She is," Adena said quietly and James looked at her questioningly.

She was about to elaborate when they heard the passage door open. James moved swiftly forward and pressed Adena against the wall, as Adena threw her arms around his neck.

Someone walked around the corner just as James bent his head towards Adena's neck. He pulled back quickly before he even touched her. They turned to see the rather nervous looking second year before them. He mumbled his apologies before running back the way he came.

They both pulled back and continued talking as though nothing had even happened. They had taken to doing this lately as Adena had heard gossip about how they never seem to kiss. They decided then, that when they were going to talk, that they should do it in the discretion of Hogwarts' secret passage ways. That way they really could talk, and every once in a while someone would stumble upon them, seemingly snogging.

And just like they expected, the news spread fast throughout the castle that the Head Boy and his girlfriend snog in deserted corridors.

"She's always acting weird around me, and she avoids me whenever possible," Adena told him, knowingly.

"Uh, well, she seems moody around me. Sometimes we talk and have a good time, and then other times she's cold and ignores me. I don't really get it…" James said, sounding confused.

"Exactly!" Adena said with a laugh. "She likes you, but she knows we're going out so she isn't going to do anything about it, obviously. This is perfect.

"Well… What now? I don't see how that's perfect…"

"We have to break up," she said firmly.

"Oh… We do?" he asked, taken aback.

"Yeah… James! We weren't really even going out!"

"I know," he said sullenly. "It's just it was a lot of fun."

"Well sure," she said with a laugh. "But obviously we'll still be friends."

"Well, yeah… I guess."

"Don't you want to go out with Lily?" Adena asked, a little bewildered.

"Of course, of course," he said with a smile. "You're right. So… What do we do to end it?"

"Well… We just walk out of here- not together, of course- and if anyone asks, you tell them."

"Alright," he said, smiling shyly. "Sorry, I'm just not usually on this end of the break up…"

Adena laughed and moved forward to embrace him. She pecked his cheek then pulled back.

"We'll be in touch," she said in a sort of mischievous tone. He grinned and turned to exit the passageway a free man.

**AN: OMG YOU GUYS. I'M SO SORRY. It's been like a month! I never meant it to be that long of a wait. Because I totally had this chapter, and the next three done, I just haven't had time to type them…… gets hit with bricks I'm sorry. So anyways, what do you think? It's like… The ending of an era… xD I'm going to miss Jamsie and Adena, but alas, there are other boys to fill the void… If you know what I mean… wink wink nudge nudge **

**OMG. You know what? I started CRYING when I was typing their breakup. I'm not even sure why… I wasn't really crying hard, or anything, but at least one tear slipped out, it's so weird… Just like Adena said, they weren't really even going out! sob Ah well. I like uhm… Well, you'll see. xD**

**Maybe if I devote myself to it, I can post another chapter today? I don't know, because we're leaving to go up north today. But you'll need to review anyways, because I can't post the chapter without someone to dedicate it to! So go ahead and review, lovelies. I'll love you forever!**

**-Love, L to the C; Lady Carmilla! **


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Harry Potter_, Silly.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **The girl with no life

**-Chapter Twelve-**

Just like they'd expected, word spread fast that James and Adena had broken up. Adena had barely even settled into her seat at the Gryffindor table when Lydia pounced on her.

"You broke up with him?!" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but must you yell?" Adena said in a scolding tone as a few people turned to glance at them curiously.

"Right-O," she said sheepishly. "But why? I mean, what about the plan?"

Just then Sirius sidled over to them. Ben narrowed his eyes at him, but he was ignored.

"What now? Plan? Plan for what, I wonder?" he asked nosily.

"Nothing of your business, I'm sure," Lydia said.

"Right," he said, sounding unconvinced. "_Everything_ is my business."

Adena shook her head and turned back to Lydia.

"Don't worry about it," she told her with a discrete wink.

"Do you know what they're talking about?" Sirius asked Ben conversationally.

"Uh, no. I don't," he admitted.

"Yeah. I didn't think so… But it was worth a shot," he said, shoveling some food onto his plate.

"Didn't you _just_ eat? Like right before I left?" Adena asked Sirius incredulously.

"Yeah… So what? I'm a growing boy," he informed her, his mouth full. "Speaking of your leaving, where'd Jamsie get off to?" he asked, looking around as though he was trained to pop up at the sound of his name.

"I don't know," Adena admitted casually.

"And why not? Aren't you in charge of keeping tabs on my Prongsie Dearest these days?"

"I wouldn't say so, no," she said.

"Oh!" he said suddenly, dropping his fork with a clatter. "That was _you_ they were talking about, then?"

"Um… And by_ they_ you mean who, exactly?" Adena asked, hoping he didn't know already.

"You and James broke up," he said ignoring her words. He glanced anxiously at her. "He didn't break your heart did he? Do I have to beat him up?"

"Um…" Adena said, thoroughly taken aback.

"He did! Where is he? I didn't want to, but-"

"No, Sirius," she said quickly. "I broke up with him."

"What? Wait," he said wide-eyed. "Did you break _his _heart? Do I have to beat _you _up?"

"No, no. There was no heart-breaking involved, I swear, and there will be no beating up, either," she added. "It was more of a mutual agreement, really. We decided to just be friends."

"Oh," he said looking half relieved, but half disappointed. "Well then. I guess that makes things easier for me then, huh?"

"Uh, why?" Ben piped in, suspiciously. Sirius narrowed his eyes at him.

"Why do you think, you prat? Neither of my friends are heartbroken and neither of them have to be beaten up by me," he said in a tone that suggested it was obvious.

"Oh," Ben said sheepishly. "Of course."

"Gods, Ben. Get a clue," Lydia said harshly. Sirius looked up at her in surprise. Adena answered his unasked question.

"They don't get along," she told him under her breath as they continued to bicker.

"I see that," he said with a laugh. "But hey, are you sure you're ok? I know Potter can be a bit of a prat when it comes to ending relationships."

"No," she said, surprised. "He wasn't. Like I told you, we agreed. We'll be better of this way."

"If you're sure," he said as he threw his arm around her shoulder. She looked at him curiously. "Not to worry, there are many other fish in the sea, Fire Maiden."

And with that, he stood and marched purposefully from the hall, his smile never faltering.

"He seems a little unhinged, huh?" Ben asked in Adena's ear as she watched Sirius go. She turned back to her friend.

"No. Not really. Why would you say so?" Adena asked defensively.

"Well, for one, he said he was going to beat you up! You're a girl, for Christ's sake!"

"Um, excuse me, exactly _what_ do you mean by that!?" Lydia asked, sounding offended.

"He's just a really good friend," Adena said, graciously ignoring the last part. "James is like a brother to him."

"That's no excuse," Ben said loudly.

"And he was kidding, anyways," Adena said, starting to get annoyed.

"I don't think-"

"Shut up, Benjamin," Lydia said coldly. "Addy does _not_ need you to protect her from anyone, let alone her own _friends_."

Ben narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "No one even asked you, _Lydia_."

"I don't fucking care. No one even wants you here, _Ben_," she half yelled.

"Addy does! Don't you, Adena?" he asked her hopefully. She didn't answer right away.

"Well-"

"See! You see that? Just go home now, Ben. She doesn't want you here and she doesn't want you back, Ben. She dumped you for a reason. She does _not_ love you. Can't you take a fucking hint?" Lydia said loudly, she was standing now, and using her arms to accentuate her point, wildly.

"I-I- Addy?"

"No, Ben. I think she's right. Maybe you _should_ just… go," she answered quietly, her eyes on the table in front of her.

"Wha-? _Fine_. You know what? Fine!" he said, angrily. He stood. "Go ahead, get together with Black, why don't you? I hope he breaks your heart. _Breaks it like you broke mine_. Goodbye Adena Sanguina. I sincerely hope I _never_ see you again."

And with that he turned and stormed from the hall, all eyes glancing between him and the two girls he was walking away from.

Adena put her head down on the table in shame. She felt bad. Definitely. But she couldn't help but feel that it was about time that Ben realized what was going on and stopped trying to win her back. He really just needed to get over her.

----------X----------

Adena walked into the common room slowly, while Lydia most nearly _bounced_.

"Stop feeling so guilty, Addy," Lydia said with scolding. "Dude had it coming; the creeper."

"I guess…"

"No, Adena. I won't let you feel bad about this! You _know_ you feel relieved."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"You don't have to worry about him holding you back anymore, y'know?"

"I guess," Adena said, sitting in front of the dying fire. Lydia plopped down next to her, and threw her legs up onto the table in front of her.

"Not talking about me, are we?" James asked from a chair opposite them, he smiled.

"Nah, Adena sent Ben packing," Lydia informed him happily.

"You what?" James asked Adena, even though he was quite sure he'd heard exactly what Lydia had said.

"Ben's gone," she said, the remorse finally edging from her tone.

"Good riddance," James said, leaning back in his chair. "I didn't like him."

"No on does. Not even his own mother!" Lydia added. "You see how eager she was to send him overseas?"

"I know, but it's just what he said when he was leaving," Adena said, ignoring Lydia. "He said I'd broken his heart."

"Adena," James laughed. "I'm sure he was over exaggerating, although, you might want to get used to it, because you are a hard thing to lose," he told her seriously, then grinned. "I would know."

"James!" Adena laughed. "We weren't really even going out."

"I know, I know," he said with a grin. "But at least people thought we were, so you were safe from people like… Well, people like Ben."

"I suppose, but it doesn't matter, I'll be fine. We just need to worry about Lily now."

"Right," he said. "Me and Lily… It has a nice ring to it…"

Adena shook her head, but smiled at his dreamy tone. She knew they wouldn't be getting any work done while Lily Evans was on his mind.

----------X----------

Adena noticed quite quickly that Lily was back to her old self around her again. This was satisfying news for her, because it meant that she was right. Lily hadn't been the same around her because she had been jealous.

Adena smiled to herself as Lily went on and on about this new book she'd read. They'd been paired together in Potions by Slughorn to make some potion, and Adena saw it as her perfect chance to talk James up.

"Hey Lily," Adena interrupted, Lily looked a little taken aback.

"Uh, what?" she asked.

"I think James was just looking at you, _again_," she added, talking as though she'd never even 'dated' him.

"Oh! You think?" Lily asked, blushing and glancing towards James, who Adena had signaled to look Lily's way. He smiled at her, and she nervously returned it before turning back to Adena, blushing ever deeper.

"Told you," Adena said knowingly.

"You know," Lily said, slicing some ginger roots, absently. "I think I may have been wrong about him. This whole Head Student thing has really shown me how… Sweet he can be."

Adena beamed. "Yes, he _is _a sweetheart."

"He can actually be quite pleasant, and I didn't even realize he thought about things other than, you know… _Quidditch and pranking_. Did you know he wants to be an auror?" she asked Adena, but didn't wait for her response. "I think that's very brave, and sort of noble, you know? What with You-Know-Who getting more powerful all the time."

Adena nodded her agreement, and glanced back at James, who had been paired with Sirius, she gave him a reassuring smile. Sirius eyed them curiously, and Adena turned back to Lily who seemed to still be talking about James.

Adena saw that Lily didn't really even need her help to talk about James, and she was still going on about him when Slughorn stood from his great desk and announced, "Time!"

He was walking over to them as Adena threw the finishing touch into their potion, and gave it one last stir. Slughorn inspected it appraisingly.

"Perfect potion, as usual, Miss Evans. You really have got a knack for this," he told her jovially. "You would do well to learn from her yourself, Miss Sanguina."

And with that, he sauntered off to the next group. Adena didn't even bother telling him she'd brewed the damn potion almost entirely by herself, as Lily had been clearly too smitten to concentrate on it. Adena was just happy that their plan seemed to be working.

----------X----------

"Lydia!" Adena said with relief. "Where have you been? Why weren't you in Potions?" Adena asked as she sat down at the Gryffindor table with her friend for dinner. Lydia seemed to be teeming with excitement.

"Well, I _was_ in Potions. You just didn't see me because the old Slug partnered me with Remus, so I was in the back with him," she informed her friend happily.

"_And?_ What happened?" Adena asked suggestively, perking up.

"Well, what do you _think_, we were in class, for Merlin's sake," Lydia said with a laugh. "We just basically talked the entire time. He's _really_ fascinating."

"That's great, Lyd," Adena said with a pleased smile. "And Lily is completely smitten with James, it seems. I guess that means all is well, or will be shortly, in the area of romance, eh?"

"But what about _you_, Addy?" Lydia asked suddenly. "Who have you got?"

"Well… No one, I guess, but I don't need anyone," she assured. "Really."

Lydia narrowed her eyes at her.

"Sure, _Fire Maiden_, whatever you say," said Lydia, making Adena blush.

"Whatever, can we just eat?" Adena asked desperately. Lydia snorted.

"I don't know what you're waiting for," she said, her mouth already full, as she waved a chicken leg at the brunette.

"Lovely," Adena muttered as she scooped some food onto her own plate.

She merely picked at it, though, as she considered what Lydia had said; she realized, begrudgingly, that she was right. She'd been spending so much time and energy with James, that she hadn't any _real_ romance since… _Josh_.

She scowled at the thought of her ex-boyfriend, and jabbed her food extra hard with her fork.

"What did that food _ever_ do to you?" Sirius asked worriedly as he sat next to Adena. Adena blinked up at him and dropped the fork with a clatter. She turned back to look across the table at Lydia, who was smirking at her. She narrowed her eyes.

"Nothing," she told Sirius without turning back to him. "The food did nothing."

She picked her fork up once more, and started stabbing at the food again.

"Ok, ok," Sirius said, as he grabbed Adena's wrist, she dropped the fork. He put it on the plate and pushed the plate forward towards the center of the table. It vanished.

"I was still eating that," Adena said through clenched teeth.

"Whoa there, down girl," he said. "Was there any specific reason for your attacking that food?"

"No," she answered quickly.

"Yeah, I thought so," he said thoughtfully. "So, are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?"

"Have fun guessing," Adena said as she stood from her seat. She looked across the table to see that Lydia had already left.

She started walking towards the doors. Halfway there, she passed Lily and James. James grinned at her and she gave him a thumbs up back, behind Lily.

Adena continued out, but was dove upon by a large barn owl. She screamed automatically, but pulled the letter from its leg. She didn't stop to see it fly away, but continued out of the Great Hall. She ripped open the letter and read it quickly. She stopped where she was, staring numbly at the letter. Rereading it, willing it to be a joke.

Sirius finally caught up to her, though, and he stopped behind her.

"Is that was this is?" he asked angrily. "You're jealous of Lily and James?"

Adena didn't even hear his accusations, they didn't matter. None of it mattered. And she felt like nothing would truly ever matter again.

"I can't believe y- wait. Adena, what's wrong?" Sirius asked suddenly, his tone changing completely as he moved forward. He glanced at the letter that he'd seen her take from the owl in the Great Hall. "Adena, what is that?"

Adena handed him the letter, but didn't turn to him. He read it curiously.

_Adena Kora Sanguina,_

_We are sorry to inform you that Adelaide Marie Simon-Sanguina was found dead in her place of residence at approximately 5:15 this evening; the Dark Mark cast over her home. We are terribly sorry for your loss, and we hope this letter is finding you well._

_Also, someone should be in touch with you shortly regarding her last will and testament. _

_Sincerely,_

_Gina Price_

_Magical Law Enforcement_

Sirius stared at the letter, eyes wide. Then he moved forward to turn Adena to him. She had tears streaming from her newly bloodshot blue eyes.

Sirius embraced her tightly, and she collapsed into him with a sob. Sirius tightened his grip around her, protectively, as people walked past, eyeing them and whispering to their friends behind their hands.

Adena threw her arms around Sirius' neck and continued to sob loudly into his shoulder.

"Shh," Sirius comforted, into her hair. "It's going to be alright."

She only sobbed harder, and Sirius backed up into the nearest wall, and slid down it with her, never once thinking about letting her go.

**AN- -sob- I hated killing her mother……. I LOVED HER MOTHER. But, alas…. I had to. Anyways. On a lighter note…… Actually, no. I can't even think of anything on a lighter note, which is totally sad. But…. Dude, this is chapter twelve already! That seems amazing to me, like I was only **_just_** creating this story. It was only**_ just_** in my mind and no where else. Hmph. I'll be sad when it's over, but don't worry little children. I can guarantee quite a few more chapters. I've got the next three basically written. I'm just finishing up chapter 15. Woo! And it's not very final at all. It's not even Christmas yet! **

**Yey! Christmas! -does Christmas dance- Yes. Of course I have a Christmas dance…. Anywho. I'm feeling very motivated lately, so maybe I'll get to typing the next chapter soon. I don't know, we'll see.**

**First reviewer gets a chapter dedication, as always! **

**Love, love, me do. You know I love you. I'll always be true. So pleeeeeeeeease, **_love me do_**. Whoa, love me do.**

**(ROFL. Sorry for that random singing outburst….)**

**Lurve, Lady Carmilla.**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Disclaimer:** You know what's mine.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **fantasygirl26

**-Chapter Thirteen-**

Adena didn't even bother attending classes for the last two days of term, but no one was going to hold it against her. The teachers had been informed of her situation, and her classmates were left to whisper theories about her absence, very few of them actually true.

As far as most of them knew, she had left. She didn't go to class and wasn't present at mealtimes. She spent the greater part of two days in her dorm, crying. Much to Abbi and Bridget's dismay. After a while though, she seemed to be cried out. When this time came, she just laid in her bed, staring without seeing at the ceiling.

She just couldn't believe it. Her mom was dead. _Gone_. Never coming back. The person who meant the most to her in the world, the person who had always loved her, who had always been there for her. The person she had shared everything with, the person who had done so much for her, who would do anything just to see her happy.

The very same person, Adena remembered with a pang of sorrow, who she hadn't seen in months. The person who she was supposed to see the _very next day_. The very person she had promised to write to all the time, but had only written to every so often.

Adena couldn't help imagining her mother alone in their flat, looking expectantly towards the sky for her letter. And she imagined her being met instead by evil hooded men and woman who murdered her because she had chosen Adena over Voldemort.

Adena sobbed at that thought.

Shortly after the first letter, Adena had received another letter that was written in a sadly familiar, but still somewhat comforting looping writing.

_Dearest Adena,_

_I'm sorry, love, but if you're reading this, it must mean that your father and I are gone. Please Adena, let me just say, don't do what I know you're doing. Don't cry your life away over us. But anyways, I'm sure you must be thoroughly confused by now. Well, I just thought you'd like to know a bit more about your story, and why, I'm sure, we're dead._

_You've probably figured it out by now, but when I was at Hogwarts I was a Slytherin. I'm not really proud of it now, though I was at the time. All of my family was; Simons are notorious Slytherin Purebloods. _

_And well, I'm sure you know how it is with Slytherins and Voldemort, honey. Well, when we moved to America, it was originally to get away from my over proud mother, but not long after Voldemort started his rise to power, his henchmen came recruiting. He wanted your father and me, Adena. Of course we declined, and well, it ultimately cost us our lives. Voldemort does not take kindly to rejection, dear._

_We did think you should know this, though, I know you must have been curious. And I know right now you're probably dissecting every moment between us, but Adena, don't. You have to know that your father and I love you very much. We want what's best for you. We want you to be happy._

_You are probably regretting many things; things said, things not said, things done, things not done, etc. But please, please don't. None of it matters now, Adena. I know you love us, and you know we love you. That's all that matters._

_Oh, and dad wants to add something, too._

_**Adena, honey! Like your mother said, we love you. We're proud of everything you've done and surely will do. We love you so much. And please stay safe for us, will you?**_

_Yes, he makes a good point. Oh dear, this getting lengthy. And it sounds like you've woken up. You can't see this until we're gone. _

_Oh, and if you ever need anything, please go to my mother. She may be stubborn, and narrow-minded… And rude, but she can't honestly deny her only granddaughter help. We kept you from her, make sure you tell her that if you need to suck up. It wasn't your choice._

_Alright, dear. Time to say goodbye, I'm afraid. Please, don't fret, darling. I'm terribly sorry that we had to leave you like this, and I'm sorry that this is what you were born into, but just know that I wouldn't ever have traded you to avoid this, love. And neither would Dad. We love you more than anything, Adena. Always remember that._

_All of your love,_

_Mom & __**Dad**_

Adena had read and reread the letter until she knew it by heart. She smiled meekly at how well her mother had known her, easily guessing her every thought. It was comforting, to say the least.

Adena sat up in her bed. She drew back her bed hangings and peered around the dorm. It was the middle of the night, and everyone else was sleeping peacefully.

Adena sighed and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood cautiously. She almost toppled onto Lydia's sleeping form, but caught herself as she reacquainted her legs with the feeling of standing.

She tiptoed to the door, and without a single glance back, she left the dorm and headed down to the common room. She was cautious upon entering the room that she felt she hadn't visited in years. She was relieved to see a familiar face once she finally got there, though.

"Adena!" Sirius said, sounding surprised. He stood as she reached him. She smiled at him sadly.

"Hi, Sirius," she said quietly.

"How have you been?" he asked, sounding concerned. "I haven't seen you in nearly two days."

"Yeah, I've been uh, well… You know…" she said, looking at her feet.

"Sure," he said, in an understanding tone.

"I-uh, I just wanted to say thanks, too," she said, shifting her weight nervously. "Thanks for being there, I mean. And letting me, um, soak your shoulder," she said with a nervous laugh. Sirius chuckled.

"Yeah, it was pretty wet… But hey, it was nothing really. I'm sorry I couldn't do more," he said sincerely, making Adena smile and move to hug him tightly.

"Hey," he said, as they pulled away. "You hungry?"

Adena seemed to think about that. "Yeah, actually, I am."

"Alright, c'mon then," Sirius said with a grin. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the portrait hole. Once they were in the corridor Sirius wrapped an arm around Adena's shoulder protectively and led her to the kitchens.

"Just tell them what you want," Sirius said as Adena peered down at the sea of house elves that flooded the kitchens around them. "They'll make anything for you."

Adena gave them her order and watched as they rushed off to get it ready, their ears flapping as they went. She looked around taking in the kitchen in its entirety. It was huge, but in a miniature sort of way, as the elves that used the space were miniature in size.

"Are we supposed to be in here?" Adena asked Sirius suddenly, he grinned.

"Well… No one ever said we _weren't_ supposed to be down here…" he told her mischievously.

Adena laughed and hit his arm playfully as the elves rushed back, trays held above their heads so that the food seemed to be scurrying towards them by itself.

Adena thanked the elves and took the food gratefully. She hadn't realized how hungry she'd actually been until she'd smelt the food. She sat down and quickly began to devour the food before her as Sirius watched her, amused.

"Hungry?" he asked as he started in on his own chocolate cake. Adena nodded as she set down one empty plate and picked up another full one.

"Ok, ok," Sirius said moments later, with a laugh as Adena motioned for the elves to bring her even more food. "You're going to explode if you keep going at this rate. Let's go."

"Yeah. Ok," Adena said sheepishly. She turned back to the elves as Sirius pulled her from the kitchen. "Thanks!"

The elves simultaneously bowed, some of their noses scraping the stone floor. Adena waved to them happily as she was pulled around the corner and out of sight.

"House elves are kind of strange creatures, huh?" Adena asked with a laugh.

"Sure," Sirius said, draping his arm over her shoulder absently.

"We never had house elves ourselves, but my grandmother was a big Slytherin Pureblood, she had loads. Way more that she needed, I'm sure," Adena said darkly.

"Yeah, I know how that is," Sirius said with a scowl.

"She was a real horrible person…" Adena added quietly.

"I know how that is, too," Sirius said. "Having horrible family members."

"Really?" Adena asked, before giving the Fat Lady the password.

"Oh yeah. You mean you've never heard the Black Family Tale?" Sirius asked with contempt. He sat on a couch near the dying fire and Adena sat next to him. "Blacks are big Slytherin Purebloods, too. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin. Well, that is except for us few lucky ones, of course."

"Wow," Adena said.

"Yeah, my mother nearly had a heart attack when she found out I'd been sorted into Gryffindor. And she's probably disowned me completely by now," he said darkly. "Probably blasted my name off of her wretched family tree."

"You think?" Adena asked. "That seems… Rather drastic."

"Nah, drastic is my mother's middle name," he informed her, his tone telling her he was not fond of his mother. She couldn't imagine living her life while hating her own mother. She shuddered.

"Actually," she said. "I think I can understand that. My mother was probably blasted off of her family tree for marrying my dad and moving to America. My grandmother hated my dad. He came from a family of blood-traitors and broke up the marriage she had arranged for my mom."

"Sounds like a decent bloke to me," Sirius said with admiration.

"Oh, he was. Very, very decent," Adena said sadly. Sirius heard the slight break in her voice and put his arm around her, pulling her closer. He kissed the top of her head as he heard a slightly muffled sob. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm consolingly.

"Sirius," Adena said suddenly. Sirius looked curiously at her as she pulled away from him, but turned to look at him. She stared at him for a long moment before she lifted her leg over him, and put it down on the other side of him so that she was straddling him.

She glanced into his surprised gray eyes for a moment before moving forward and capturing his lips with her own, her hands holding his face.

Sirius responded quickly, wrapping his arms around her as she leaned into him, closing the gap between them, while deepening the kiss all the more. Adena ran a hand through his dark hair, and she made to move her mouth to his jaw line when his voice stopped her.

"Adena," he said in a strangled voice, as he removed her hands from his face, but kept them within his own. "I- We- I mean, we can't Adena. You- you're in an emotionally vulnerable state, and I-"

"No, I got it," Adena said, her breath ragged. She lifted herself from his lap. She sat back where she had been before. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, no," Sirius said with a slight smirk. "Don't be, just, you know-"

"Yeah. I know," she said sheepishly. She stared into the dying fire, but she could feel his eyes upon her. She glanced at him; he looked slightly troubled.

"Y'know," he began nervously. "I know you were, er, planning to spend the break at home, but if it's, y'know… too hard, or whatever, you're welcome to come to the Potter's. Lydia, too."

Adena felt like she was going to cry again, but she knew it didn't have much to do with sadness.

"I was actually wondering about that. Are you sure they wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not! They're great about things like that. I went there when I first ran away; they said I could always consider it my home."

"Well, if you don't mind, can we just go with you tomorrow? I mean, I know I have to go home eventually, I just don't think I'm ready quite yet," she admitted quietly.

"Of course," he said happily. "I'll have Jamsie owl his mum before we leave," he said as he wrapped his arm around her again. She smiled and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder, she gazed once more at the embers still smoldering in the fireplace, and she felt her eyelids getting heavy. After a bit of a struggle, she gave in, and finally drifted off to sleep.

----------X----------

Adena could feel the heat beating down on her face before she saw the sun through her closed eyelids. She turned so her back was to the light, and she opened her eyes.

She gasped as her blue eyes met a pair of familiar gray ones that seemed to be watching her, amused. She quickly sat up, and found that she was lying in the bed that had been James' for six years. In the bed next to her, Sirius Black lay on his side, facing her.

"Morning, sunshine," he said with a grin at her obvious confusion.

"What'd-?"

"You were dead to the world," he informed her. "We were down in the common room for a while, but then I figured people would be waking up and coming down, so I brought you up here," he said with a shrug.

"Oh," she said, looking around. "Well, thanks."

"Anytime, Fire Maiden. But should probably go get ready, the train leaves at-"

"Oh shit," Adena said, jumping to her feet. "Yeah, uh, see you later."

She wasn't even thinking about how it looked as she jumped the last few stairs of the boy's staircase into the common room, but was quickly reminded when she was met with cat calls and wolf whistles from her fellow housemates.

Adena blushed furiously as she ran to the girl's staircase, and bounded up the stairs two at a time. She flung herself into her dorm, breathing heavily. She looked down to find her best friend still sleeping. She laughed as she watched her friend laying there, sprawled out on her back, her mouth hanging open slightly. She was lying across the bed diagonally, her blonde head lolling off one end, and her legs hanging off the other.

Adena poked her friend in the side causing her to quickly jump awake, and topple off of her bed unceremoniously.

"Addy!" Lydia said furiously at Adena's laughing form.

"G'morning, love," she said with a smirk as she headed towards her trunk so she could start packing it. "Change of plans, pack your stuff, we're going to the Potter's."

"We're going to… What? Why?" Lydia asked as she pulled herself back onto her bed.

"We've been invited," Adena said flatly.

"But what about-" Lydia started, but Adena cut her off sharply.

"We'll go eventually," she said, not meeting her eyes. "I just don't- Just not yet."

"Of course," Lydia mumbled, looking at the ground. "Sorry."

"Oh, no, Lyd. Don't be," she said lightly, with a reassuring smile. "Just get your stuff together. The train should be leaving soon."

----------X----------

Adena watched apprehensively as James and Sirius strutted up the long snow covered walkway before her. Lydia, who had started to follow them, realized Adena wasn't following her, and turned to grab her arm, and they too started to walk up to the house that could only be described as a _mansion_.

Once they finally reached the porch, James entered, but Sirius waited and held the door open for the girls. They smiled in thanks and stepped into a lavish high-ceilinged foyer. Lydia and Adena looked around in muted awe.

"You _live_ here?" Adena asked James under her breath. He grinned at her and nodded as a plump red-headed woman came bustling towards them.

"Jamie!" she said happily as she reached them. She hugged him tightly, her hazel eyes glittering with happiness. She kissed his cheek before pulling back to look at him.

"Hi, Mum," he said with a grin. She hugged him once more before motioning for Sirius to come and give her a hug as well. He obliged.

"Sirius, dear, how are you?" she asked brightly.

"Just great," he informed her with a grin to match James'.

"Mum, this is Adena," James said, moving forward and nodding towards the girls. "And Lydia."

"Well hello, dears!" his mother said warmly. "Welcome to our home."

"Thank you so much for letting us stay here, Mrs. Potter," Adena said politely, Lydia nodded in agreement.

"Oh it's nothing, really, sweetheart, and please, call me Radella," she said with a kind smile as she turned back to her son. She had to tilt her head up to talk to him, as he was so much taller than her. "Why don't you show them their rooms so they can drop off their things? Then we can have some dinner."

"Yes, ma'am," James said happily, as Sirius grinned.

"Food!" Sirius said happily as he bounded down the hall. James laughed merrily and motioned for Lydia and Adena to follow him.

He gave them a quick sort of mini-tour of the main floor, then led them up one flight of stairs and told them what was there; his parent's room, his father's home office, and a few assorted guest bedrooms.

Then James led them up yet another flight of stairs where, he said, their rooms were. James pointed out his room at the top of the stairs, and then led them down the hall a bit to a violently burgundy room. Adena knew before James said it that it was Sirius' room. There were posters and pictures plastered all over the place; not even just on the walls. Random items were strewn about the floor. It just screamed 'Sirius'.

The next room was Adena's. It was larger than she had been expecting and she accepted it gratefully. It had a pale blue theme, with powder blue walls and silver sheets on the magnificent four-poster bed. Adena acknowledged its beauty as she dropped her things off on the bed and rejoined to procession to Lydia's room.

Lydia's room was the last on their side of the staircase. This room was a dark lavender shade, with luscious dark wood furniture. Lydia admired it only momentarily before dropping off her stuff and rushing back out into the hall.

"Dinnertime?" she asked hopefully. Adena rolled her eyes and James grinned.

"Right this way, ladies," he said, leading them down to the dining room.

**AN: WELL. Another chapter down. Kind of…. I don't know. You tell me. Please review. First reviewer, as always, gets chapter dedication. And of course, eternal love from Lady Carmilla. Although, any review will get you eternal love from me, I'm not picky. **

**Much love, LC.**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Disclaimer:** These get a bit redundant, don't you think? You know I don't own _Harry Potter_….. I hope.

**I dedicate this chapter to:** _The girl with no life_, _fantasygirl26_, _bookworm2011_, _Countess Giselle Aritois_, _Lady Rannik_, AND my dear friend _Shelby_. Thank you all for reviewing the last chapter. I know this took longer than usual for the update, but still, I want to give a big thanks to you for reviewing, cos I love that. And of course just a thanks to **every reader**. Thank you for the favourites and the alerts and all of it. **I love you guys loads**, and I'm not entirely sure why I just randomly got REALLY sentimental, lol, but I want you guys to know that I love you, and I love that you love this story. And a special thanks to those that have been with me since the beginning. (Wow, this sounds like I'm ending it, or something doesn't it? LOL. I'm totally not ending it yet, I swear. I just wanted to get this out there.) And now, without further ado:

**-Chapter Fourteen-**

"C'mon Lydia!" Adena yelled as James scored on her once more. "If you let another quaffle through there, I swear I will kill you myself!"

"Why do you think I don't play Keeper, you idiot!" Lydia yelled hotly as Adena flew past with her eyes narrowed.

"They can't beat us!" Adena said as she glanced at their opponents who were now laughing at her. She growled and grabbed the quaffle from Lydia.

She shot forward as fast as her broom would let her, she dove quickly around James, who watched her pass, frozen with shock, and as soon as she was close enough, she chucked the quaffle through the hoop right behind Sirius' head, knocking the laughter from his face.

"Damn," he said, looking at James. "I think we should quite while we're ahead."

He glanced at Adena who had zoomed immediately back towards Lydia to give her a high-five. James nodded in quick agreement, and sped off towards the girls.

"We were thinking about going in for lunch," James told them casually as he reached them. Adena's jaw dropped.

"James Potter!" she said as Sirius joined him. She glared at the pair. "What, so just because you realized we were going to beat you, you're going to quit?"

"You were _not_ going to beat us!" Sirius said indignantly.

"You know they were, mate," James said with defeat. "I _am_ hungry though."

"I second that," Lydia said as she started her descent towards the snow-covered ground. The others followed.

"No wonder you were captain," James said thoughtfully to Adena as they started walking back towards Potter Manor. "That was going to be quite a comeback."

Adena grinned and Lydia threw an arm around her neck.

"That's my Addy," she said proudly as she ruffled her friend's hair.

When they got back to the house, they were not only greeted with lunch, but a worn looking visitor, too.

"Moony!" Sirius shrieked as they walked into the warm kitchen. He ran forward and yelled, "Catch me!" as he tried to jump into Remus' arms. However, Remus thought better of it, and stepped out of the way so that Sirius jumped into nothing and fell to the floor with a clatter. He quickly stood, dusting himself off, and crossed his arms over his chest. He glared at those who were laughing; which was everyone.

"_Thanks_ Moony," he said sarcastically as he stalked back out of the room, his chin stuck high in the air. A moment later, they heard a voice and hurried footsteps as Sirius ran back into the room and hid behind Adena.

"James Potter!" came his mother's stern voice. "What have I told you about tracking snow through my house?"

They all looked down at themselves, sheepishly, and saw that they had, in fact, been covered in snow from their trek up to the house, but the snow had since melted, and so they were each standing in a puddle of melted snow.

"Sorry, Mrs. Potter," Adena said sheepishly. "We'll clean it up right away."

"Oh, no dear," she said with a ghost of the smirk that her son wore so often. "The boys will do it. You are their guests."

"Aw, no fair!" Sirius said childishly, but he took out his wand anyways.

"No, no, no boys. No magic," she said with a certain twinkle in her hazel eyes as the boys groaned and she turned to leave the room.

"It was a trap," Sirius said as James handed him a rag. "She knew we'd be distracted by Moony and forget to get the snow off."

"She knew you'd be distracted by _anything_, Padfoot," Remus said with a laugh.

"Too true," Sirius agreed. "So how are you ladies enjoying this, huh? Watching us do all this hard labor."

"_Hard labor_?" Adena snorted.

"Hardly," Lydia said as Sirius picked up his rag and rung it out in the sink.

"Yes, I'd say it's definitely hard labor, wouldn't you, mate?" Sirius asked James as he made his way out of the room, following the trail they'd left.

"Oh definitely," James called from the next room.

"Oh, well we were going to help, but if its _such_ hard labor… Well, maybe we shouldn't," Adena said sweetly. "Ah well, have fun."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her smirk as he followed James out of the kitchen. Adena looked behind her where Remus and Lydia seemed to be having a silent conversation between themselves.

"Well. I think it's time to hit the dusty trail…" Adena said as she yawned dramatically and stretched her arms above her head. Then she winked at Lydia and backed from the room, with a huge grin upon her face.

She was barely around the corner when she heard Remus ask, "So, do you- uh, want to go for a walk?"

Lydia accepted happily and not a moment later, Adena heard the backdoor open and then close. Just then, Sirius and James came lumbering back into the kitchen. They walked halfway in, before throwing their rags into the sink with a splash.

"Hmph," Sirius said. Then he glanced curiously around. "Hey, where'd everybody go?"

"Lydia and Remus went for a walk," Adena informed them as she too reentered the room.

"Oh… But I thought Remy was here to see me," Sirius said with mocking sorrow.

"Sorry, love, but you were mistaken," Adena told him. "And actually, I was thinking about going out myself…"

"Where to?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"Just… Out. No where in particular," she said vaguely, not meeting his eyes.

"Well, then let me go with you."

"NO," Adena said quickly. "I'll be fine, thanks."

And without another word she turned and walked out the door Lydia and Remus had just exited. Sirius made to follow her, but James stopped him by putting his hand firmly on his best mate's shoulder.

"She'll be fine, Padfoot," he said as they watched Adena turn on the spot, and disappear with a _crack_.

"I know she will," Sirius said confidently, as he too turned on the spot, and disapparated with a similar crack to the place where he knew Adena was going.

----------X----------

Adena stood nervously in front of apartment number 5. She jumped slightly as she thought she heard a crack behind her, but was relieved to only find a stray black dog digging in the garbage a few metres away from her.

Her hands were trembling as she looked around once more and tried to stick her key into the lock. Once she finally got it in, and successfully unlocked the door, she pushed it open, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped into her and her mother's flat.

She looked around cautiously, and gasped. It looked exactly, she was sure, as it had the day her mother had been killed there. She wondered numbly where it had happened, and she peered quietly around as though she expected the place to be marked; it wasn't.

Adena walked into the kitchen, her feet dragging on the carpet; they seemed to weigh a ton. She looked at the table where a cup of coffee sat, only half gone. She sucked in her breath, sharply; they had gotten her while she was reading the evening paper, which was lying open, next to her coffee.

Adena stumbled backwards, but caught herself at the last minute on the sink. The sense of nostalgia was overwhelming. She turned and hurried to the bathroom where she hurled herself towards the toilet and heaved her breakfast into it.

She sat on the ground and wiped her mouth as she began to sob. She hoisted herself carefully from the floor, and rinsed her mouth furiously. She cursed herself inwardly; she should have waited to come back. It was much too soon.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror; she thought she looked terrible. She then glanced at the place over her shoulder where she saw, with a jolt of horror, someone standing behind her. He smirked at the confused fear that mingled on her reflection's face.

She whipped around, wand up, and tried to curse the man, but he merely deflected it with an easy flick of his wrist and grabbed her own wrists with a cold laugh. He squeezed her wrist until she dropped her wand with a gasp, and it fell into the sink with a clatter.

"Adena Sanguina," he said smoothly, making her shiver. She in no way liked the way he said her name. "We meet at last. You look much like your mother…"

"What do you want with me?" she demanded, sounding braver then she felt as she struggled against his grip. "And who are you?"

"Well," he said, conversationally. "If you don't know, I don't know if I want to tell you… Just yet."

"What-?" Adena started, but was cut off as the man slapped her across her cheek, his icy gray eyes blazing.

"No more questions," he said loudly, sounding annoyed.

Adena nodded, then, when he was telling her what a good girl she was, she lifted her leg quickly and brought it back down hard upon his foot. He yelped, but, much to Adena's dismay, it wasn't painful enough for him to let go of her.

He grabbed her hair at the scalp and pulled her head back so her neck was exposed to him, Adena felt entirely too vulnerable. She cringed as he brought his mouth to her neck. She could feel his warm breath on her skin. He ran his tongue slowly along it, kissing her lightly near the crook of her neck. Adena made to kick him again, but just as soon she felt her arms and legs bind together magically.

"Now, now girl. It doesn't have to be this way. You seem a sensible girl, a beautiful girl, and a fine pureblood on top of it all. Just give us what we want, and you'll be safe," he told her.

"And what is it you want, exactly?" she asked grudgingly.

"You," he said simply, as he made to push his lips onto hers.

"Bite me," she said scathingly as she tried to dodge his lips.

"Gladly dear," he said with a smirk as he pulled her head roughly back again and sank his teeth into the place he'd only just kissed, in the crook of her neck. She gasped in pain. "Yes, yes. That hurt, didn't it love?"

Adena nodded, absently, silent tears streaming from her blue eyes.

"Now look. I don't want to kill you," he informed her, pleasantly, as though he _hadn't _just bit her. "Your parent's deaths were most unfortunate. They seemed to be really fond of equal rights, though. Now, you, my pretty, are at the end of two prominent blood lines.

"To shed your blood would be a pure waste of magic. But if you join me, join my master, well then, we can save your bl- er, _you_," he said with a smirk.

"Right," she said with a snort, as she tried to ignore the slight pain that she was in. "If you were so fucking concerned with damn bloodlines, why, exactly, did you kill my parents, then?"

"I told you that already, girl," he said with a sneer. "They didn't agree with us, they refused to join."

"And who says," Adena asked defiantly, "that I fucking agree with you?"

"Oh, I can easily sway that decision, love," he said with another smirk. He raised his wand. "_Crucio_!"

He let go of Adena and she fell to the cold tiled floor with a scream. The binding spell broke as she began to writhe with pain. Luckily though, he lifted the curse almost as suddenly as he'd placed it upon her.

"Adena!?" came a frantic voice from the living room.

Adena, breathing hard, found her voice and tried to yell to the person, "In here!" Although, she wasn't sure if it came out sounding like that. But it didn't matter, he'd heard her.

Her captor glanced at the door nervously, then with one last menacing sneer towards Adena, he apparated from the flat. He managed to vanish just seconds before Sirius burst through the door.

"Adena!" he said as he flung himself towards her. "Are you alright?"

Adena sucked in a deep and ragged breath before nodding meekly. She moved to sit up, Sirius moved to help her. She brought the back of her hand up to wipe the tears from her face. Sirius saw this, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hugging her tightly and protectively to him. She laid her head on his shoulder, trying to repress the sobs she sensed in her throat.

Sirius pushed the slightly sweaty hair from around her face, away. He cupped her face gently, and kissed her forehead softly.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked worriedly. She pulled back and looked at him.

"Y-yeah… He had only just started on the- the Unforgivables…" she said with a shudder.

"_Who_, Adena?" he asked roughly. "Who was it?"

"I-I'm not sure," she said quietly. "I think I might have seen him somewhere… But I can't place where."

"What'd he look like?"

"He was… Taller than me, and he had very blonde, blonde hair with icy gray eyes, almost sil-"

"_Malfoy_," Sirius said in a deadly whisper.

"Who?" Adena asked, her head cocked.

"Lucius Malfoy," he said darkly. "He went to Hogwarts; he was a few years ahead of us."

"That's where I saw him! He was a Prefect, right?" she asked, Sirius nodded. Adena contemplated that.

A Hogwarts Prefect turned Death Eater? She wondered if Dumbledore knew what had become of one of his Prefects.

Sirius stood, pulling Adena along with him. She stumbled slightly, but Sirius caught her, his hand gripping her arm.

"What'd he do to you, Adena?" he asked softly, though his gaze was intense.

"I-he just talked to me, mostly," she said, covering the bite mark on her neck casually with her collar. "And crucioed me…."

Sirius flinched. "Adena," he said pleadingly. Then he glanced curiously at her hand, which was holding a place on her collar up against her skin. Sirius reached out, and took the hand in his, taking it away from her neck.

Sirius looked furiously at the round bruise that was forming there. It was clear what it was from. He asked in a disgusted tone, "He _bit_ you?"

Adena nodded, but couldn't say anything, as more tears welled up in her eyes at the memory. Sirius moved forward quickly and wrapped his arms around her once more.

"Adena," he said quietly, as she pulled back to look at him in the eye. He pushed her tousled curls out of her face, and tucked them behind her ears. "He didn't, er-"

"No," Adena said quickly. "N-nothing like that," she assured him as he eyed her neck skeptically. She continued, her voice was unusually high-pitched, and she spoke quickly. "It was just, h-he asked me something, I don't remember what, and I told him to bite me, and well, he did. But I didn't mean-"

"Ok," Sirius said as he hugged her tightly again. "We have to tell someone."

Sirius felt her tense up against him at the suggestion. He pulled back and looked at her worriedly.

"What is it?" he asked quickly.

"Well, nothing… It's just… Do… do we _have_ to tell someone?" she asked quietly, not meeting his eyes.

"Of course we have to tell someone, Adena! You were _attacked_," he said angrily.

"I- I- Ok," she said, looking at the ground quite thoroughly. Sirius lifted her chins so that she was looking him in the eye.

"It'll be ok," he said softly, and he couldn't help but lean forward and kiss her lightly on the lips. It was a short kiss, but Adena couldn't deny the flutter she felt in her heart. "We'll tell James' dad," he said when he pulled back. "He'll take care of it; he's an auror."

"Ok," Adena said, breathlessly.

"Is there, um, anything here you maybe wanna grab before we, er, leave?"

"Oh. Yeah," she said and she turned to leave the room. Sirius followed, but stopped in the living room, intending to let her have her privacy.

"I'll just-" he said, motioning towards the couch.

"No," she said quickly, as she realized what he meant. "I don't- Can you just-"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course," he said, hurrying towards her. He grabbed her hand and she led him to the other side of the apartment. She turned the doorknob to the first room they came to; she took a deep breath, and then pushed the door open.

The room was dark; the shades on the windows were pulled shut. Adena stood in the doorway and looked sadly at the unmade bed. She glanced at the dresser, where the drawers were closed unceremoniously, leaving clothes partially hanging out.

Her mother had never been one for organization. Adena smiled at the thought of her and then turned quickly around and exited the doorway, closing the door behind her with a soft _thud_. She leaned against the door, and closed her eyes tightly.

"What-?"

"I-I can't, but I-"

"C'mon," Sirius said, taking her hand tightly in his. He opened the door once more. But when he made to enter, she didn't move. "Adena."

"Just…. Just grab that jewelry box on that table, please," she said quietly, as she pointed to the bedside table. "And that perfume," she added as he picked up the jewelry box she'd pointed out.

"Anything else?" he asked, holding the things he'd already grabbed.

"Her pillow, please," she said, avoiding Sirius' eyes. He nodded and grabbed that as well. He exited the room with his arms full. "Thank you."

"No problem, where to next?" he asked readily.

"My room," she said as she closed her mother's door and moved to the next one. There was a metal plaque with sparkling purple letters that spelled out FIRE MAIDEN in fluidly moving cursive. Sirius glanced at it, then at Adena questioningly.

"What-?"

"It's what my dad called me," she said quietly.

"Oh," he said thoughtfully. "Well, I can stop-"

"No," Adena said quickly. "Don't."

Adena opened her door without hesitation, and walked in purposefully, she saw as she looked around that it was just the same as the day she left for Hogwarts. Except now, she saw with a jolt, there was a package wrapped in shiny green paper with a red bow tied around it sitting innocently on her pillow.

She moved right past it, to her closet from where she pulled out a backpack that she charmed to be bigger on the inside. She took the things Sirius had taken from her mother's room and put them in the bag. Then she continued around the room, picking up random things.

She glanced at Sirius who, she saw, was sitting awkwardly on the edge of her bed, admiring her purple picture-plastered walls. Some of the pictures magic, with moving occupants and others with stationary figures.

"They're not moving," he said observationally. "Why aren't they moving?"

"Those pictures are from a muggle camera, and those posters are of muggle bands," she informed him with a laugh.

"The… Bee…. attles?" He cocked his head curiously.

"The Beatles," she corrected with a laugh. "Like the bug."

"Oh," he said, sounding truly interested. "Ok."

Adena laughed again and held out her hand for him to take. "Let's go," she said as before turning on the spot and apparating with Sirius back to Potter Manner.

**AN: Ok kids. Kind of……… Er…….. Emotional, eh? Violent, a bit too. I don't know where that came from, honestly. I never meant for that little attack to be in here originally, but when I started writing this chapter………. I don't know, it just seemed to fit. And thought it's a bit….. What did I say, emotional? Yeah. I guess I need it. But not to get off on a tangent…….. Lol. **

**First reviewer gets chapter dedication, as always. Please, **_**please**_** let me know what you think, aye? I would love you forever, and then some.**

**Eternal love from, Lady Carmilla.**


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Disclaimer:** You know what's mine.

**I dedicate this chapter to:** _fantasygirl26__, Lady.Malfoy, __The girl with no life__, Shelby, __Countess Giselle Aritois _and _the ness-ness._ Thank you all for reviewing. I really _really _appreciate it!

**-Chapter Fifteen-**

Adena looked cautiously up at Potter Manor. She glanced at Sirius who was watching her curiously, white snow twirling down all around him, contrasting with the dark hair that it landed in. Adena glanced back at the front door as she heard it pull open, accompanied by a loud gasp.

"Adena!" Lydia said, flinging herself from the warm entryway and towards her best friend. She hugged her tightly as Adena fumbled with her balance. "Where have you been?!"

Adena couldn't help but grin a bit at the authoritative tone her friend had taken with her; Adena was usually the more responsible one; the 'mother'.

"I don't think that's funny, Adena," Lydia said as she pulled back and caught a look at her friend's face. She shook her head.

"No, no it's not funny, sorry, Lyd," Adena said, remembering where she had been, and what had happened while she was there.

"Well?" The blonde demanded. "Where were you?"

"I- er- went home, Lydia," she said quietly, trying to force back the new tears that threatened to fall.

"You _what_?" Lydia asked loudly. "Adena-!"

"C'mon," Sirius said, cutting in. "It's cold out here."

Sirius grabbed Adena's left hand to lead her inside as she hurriedly used her other hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. Lydia followed, bewildered.

When they were once more standing in the Potter's foyer, Adena looked around to see three sets of curious eyes on her. Lydia had moved to stand between James and Remus.

"Ad-"

"I- I need to shower," she announced suddenly, ignoring her confused friends' protests. She pulled her hand from Sirius' and turned towards the stairs. Adena didn't stop until she'd reached her silver and blue room. She closed the door, but didn't bother locking it as she hurried into the connected bathroom. She locked this door and moved immediately to start the water. She shuddered at her disheveled reflection before undressing and stepping into the cold water.

She shivered as the icy water rushed over her already cold body, then rationally changed her mind and turned the water to a warmer setting. She stood there for a moment, just letting the water warm her up before she filled her hand with shampoo and scrubbed it into her hair with the hopes of washing away the feeling of Lucius' hands in it.

Adena shuddered at the thought and continued to rub the shampoo into her soapy, wet tresses. Once she was completely satisfied that she'd washed away all traces of him from her body, she turned off the water and stepped out into the steamy bathroom. She grabbed the fluffiest looking towel from the rack and dried herself off a bit before wrapping it around herself.

She moved to the foggy mirror, where she wiped the steam away in one spot so that she could once again see herself. She gasped as he noticed that a bruise seemed to be forming on her cheek. She touched it tenderly, remembering the way her attacker had slapped her.

She then glanced at her reflection's neck. She moved her wet hair behind her shoulder, and lifted her hand to poke the rounded bite mark lightly. She flinched slightly as her finger made contact softly. She quickly hid it from view with her hair once more and she swiftly unlocked the door so that she could get some fresh clothes from her trunk.

She picked something blindly from within her trunk, not even bothering to see if it matched, and she pulled it quickly on as she heard a light knock on her door. She jumped at the sound, but relaxed as a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Adena?" came James' worried voice. "Ad-"

Adena opened the door and looked up into her friend's worried face.

"Adena," he said, moving forward to embrace her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and buried her head in his chest. He kissed the top of her head softly. "It's going to be alright, Adena. Sirius told us everything and he left right away with my dad to the Ministry. They'll take care of it."

Adena nodded her head into his chest, but only gripped James tighter. He pulled back and attempted to see her face, though she tried to hide it with her hair.

"Adena," he said softly. "Are… Are you ok?"

"I- I will be," she whispered, looking at her feet. James put his finger under her chin, and lifted her eyes to meet his.

"Anything you need, Adena, I'm here," he told her honestly, living up to the role of big brother just like Adena knew he always would.

"I know," she said with a sigh as she looked up at James' face. He seemed to be trying to decide what to say next.

"I- Do you want to, er, talk about it, at all?" he asked nervously.

"Oh," Adena said, looking away. "No, not really…"

"Oh, Adena!" he said suddenly, she turned back to see his hazel eyes resting angrily upon the bite mark she knew adorned her neck. She automatically moved her hand to cover it, but James caught it and held it within his own, instead.

"It's- I-"

"Shh…" he said as he moved his finger to hover over the mark. "Does- does it _hurt_?"

"N-not so much… Only when I think about it," she said, honestly.

James' eyes visibly darkened and he quickly pulled back his hand. He started to pace angrily.

"I'll kill him," he growled.

"James," Adena said, throwing herself towards him once more. She wrapped her arms around him. "No, James. _Really_. It's alright. You said it yourself; it's already being taken care of."

"But-"

"Please," she begged into his chest. "_Please_ don't do anything stupid."

"I- alright," he said into her hair. "If you're sure."

"Yes, thank you," she whispered, sounding relieved.

"Of course, Adena," he reassured.

"I- I think I'm going to try and sleep a bit," Adena said.

"Of course," he said, pulling out of her arms. He leaned forward though, and kissed her forehead. "Sweet dreams, Adena."

Once James had left, Adena turned back to look at her room without really seeing it. She stumbled to her four-poster and fell back into the poofy silver bed, with no real intent of sleep.

Adena rolled onto her side and drew her knees tightly to her chest. She exhaled deeply, and all she could think about was how she wanted her mother to hold her; to tell her everything was going to be alright, even if it wasn't.

She wasn't sure exactly when the tears started, but they were now flowing freely. Every once in a while, her body would shake with a sob that she tried to keep from escaping. Her mother was all she could see. She was relieved, at least, to find that the image of her mother that she saw was happy. She remembered numbly her mother's excitement when she'd gotten the offer for her job at St. Mungo's. The excitement had flooded into her warm brown eyes, her smile had been contagious.

Adena smiled at the memory, but only cried harder. She was sure she looked a mess, but she couldn't have cared less. She couldn't help but let herself wonder about Lucius. She wondered if he was going to come and punish her for being saved. She shuddered as she imagined what might have happened to her, had Sirius not shown up when he did.

She then remembered everything he had said about her parents and she wondered numbly if he had been there for her mother's death, or even if he had caused it.

Hate and anger pulsed through her veins. Her fists were balled up tightly, and as she thought more and more about him, her fingernails dug deeper and deeper into the soft flesh in the palms of her hands. She gasped in pain, and quickly unclenched her hands. She rolled onto her back with a sigh and stared up at the silvery canopy that hung over her head. It shimmered in the dull sunlight that streamed in through the window.

Adena eventually fell into an uncomfortably forced sleep. She didn't feel rested at all when she woke, hours later. She had tossed and turned, Lucius Malfoy turning up behind her every time her dreams shifted, haunting her very being.

Adena threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood, faltering slightly. She stumbled blindly into the bathroom; the sun had gone down since she'd fallen asleep.

She hurried to turn on the light, squinting painfully against the brightness as her eyes adjusted. It was obvious, however, that her experience with the blonde death eater had rendered her afraid of the dark, so to speak. She moved to the sink and ran the water for a moment before letting it run into her hands. She splashed it onto her face a few times, but when she glanced at her reflection, she gasped and whipped around; searching frantically for the hauntingly cold grey eyes she could've sworn she saw.

She closed her eyes, her heart beating a mile a minute; she dared to reopen her eyes slowly. She looked around cautiously. There was no sign of anyone in the bathroom besides her. She took a deep breath before hurtling from the room. All rational thoughts were lost as she stumbled through the darkness to her bedroom door. She pulled it open apprehensively and was relieved to find the hallway candlelit.

She left her room, pausing only to close the door quietly behind her. She turned and padded quickly down the hall. She stopped in front of the door one down from her own; Sirius' room. She hesitated, wondering momentarily what time it was. She realized, however, that it didn't matter to her and it probably wouldn't matter to him, either.

She turned the knob slowly; it was unlocked. She opened the door, letting the dim light from the hall rest upon Sirius' sleeping form. He was lying on his back, his bare chest rising and falling gracefully as he snored softly.

Adena smiled and shut the door, shrouded in darkness once more. She felt her way clumsily towards his bed, cursing herself for not leaving the door open a crack. She squinted into the darkness until her eyes adjusted. She used the pale and scarce moonlight to finally reach him. She lifted the covers, which rested mostly across his bottom half, and crawled into the bed beside him.

Sirius lifted his head groggily as Adena pressed herself close to him, and rested her head against his chest.

"Adena?" he asked with a bewildered yawn.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking innocently up at him. "I- I couldn't sleep and I was getting paranoid, so…."

"Ok," he said with a chuckle. "It's ok."

She rested her arm across his torso, as he wrapped one of his arms tightly around her. She laid her head back down on his chest; it seemed to be just what she needed as she nodded off almost as soon as her head hit his chest. The last thing she remembered was Sirius' quietly thoughtful voice.

"Good night, Fire Maiden," he murmured into the darkness.

----------X----------

Adena yawned and rolled over. She could see the bright sunlight vaguely through her tightly clenched eyelids. She stretched her sleep stiff limbs and yawned again. She opened her sleepy blue eyes and was so startled by the violently burgundy walls that she nearly rolled right off the bed.

She looked around; taking in all aspects of Sirius' room as the events of the night before came flooding back to her. She sat up and looked curiously around; Sirius was no where to be found. She slid out of the bed and walked cautiously to his bathroom. He wasn't there, either.

She walked back to the bed, and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. She'd probably already missed lunch. She tiptoed cautiously to the door, working to avoid the things she was surprised she hadn't stepped on in the dark. She opened the door and glanced into the hallway; it was empty. She exited Sirius' room and closed the door quietly behind her. She was starting towards her own room when she heard another door open. She froze.

Lydia walked out into the hallway, but stopped when she saw Adena. Lydia looked curiously around and glancing at the door Adena was walking away from, she looked at her suspiciously.

"Adena?" Lydia asked, almost accusingly. "Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty."

"'Morning, Lyd," she said, stifling yet another yawn, too tired to recognize her friend's tone. At first. Lydia narrowed her eyes.

"What-?" Lydia began, but she was cut off as Adena realized what she was going to say, and grabbed her hand, dragging her into her own room. She let go once she'd locked the door behind them.

"You were in Sirius' room," she said matter-of-factly as she lounged across Adena's bed.

"Yes-" Adena began.

"That's not the first time you've spent the night with Sirius Black," she said pointedly, raising one thin sloping eyebrow in question. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me, Addy?"

"No! Lydia, of course not," Adena said quickly. "I just slept in his bed… And it wasn't even all night. And Lydia! The first time I was just in his dorm, and in _James_' bed, no less. Gods, Lydia, stop jumping to conclusions."

"Oh _right_," Lydia snorted. "Because there's no reason at all to suspect that."

Adena blushed madly, and looked away. "That's not the point."

Lydia smirked triumphantly.

"Well, whatever," she said, changing the subject mercifully. "You've successfully missed four consecutive meals. You better eat something before someone accuses you of having an eating disorder, or something."

Adena looked down as her stomach growled. Had she really not eaten in that long? She couldn't even remember feeling hungry once. She frowned.

"… You don't, do you?" Lydia asked suddenly.

"No! Of course not, Lydia, I was just stressed. I didn't even realize I haven't eaten," she said as she heard her stomach rumble once more.

"You must be deaf, then," Lydia said skeptically. "C'mon."

Lydia gave Adena a minute to change, pointing out kindly the fact that she didn't really match at all. Once she was thoroughly changed, the two girls walked down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen together.

A small house elf came scurrying forward as they entered the room. Her huge bat-like ears flapped as she moved, and when she's reached them, her giant orb-like eyes looked up at them for a moment before the elf bent into a low bow.

"What can Dot get for pretty friends of Master James?" the elf asked attentively.

"Oh, you don't-"

"Just whatever you've got lying around, really," Lydia interrupted happily. "We're not picky."

"Yes ma'am!" the elf squeaked happily as she bounced away.

"Isn't she _cute_?" Lydia cooed.

"'Whatever you've got lying around', Lydia? Do you _know _what could be _just lying around_?" Adena asked wide-eyed. "Anything!"

"Oh hush up, you. You're starving, you'll eat anything," Lydia said.

"But still, we could've gotten it ourselves…" Adena continued stubbornly.

"And hurt that poor elf's feelings? I'd rather not," Lydia said. Adena shook her head and sat down in the nearest chair. She propped her elbows up on the table and put her head in her hands. She heard the chair next to her pull out and Lydia sat down.

"Hey. Are you ok, Addy?" Lydia asked, quietly. Adena didn't answer right away, as she contemplated her answer.

"Honestly?" she asked rhetorically. "Not really, but I imagine it'll get better… Eventually."

**AN: Ok. Uhm, first of all, sorry this took a month, eh? I really meant to get it posted sooner but I had about zero time to type it. School will do that to you… -stabs- But anyways! It's here now, so… Yeah. I don't know about this chapter…. There was something about it that I didn't like, but I'm hoping that was just me… The next chapter is the last one that I have written, so I'm actually hoping that after I get the next chapter up, and can get the rest up faster, because I'll be typing them directly onto the computer (I think) without writing it in my notebook first. I don't know, we shall see. **

**So. Please review! You might have noticed that again, I just went ahead and dedicated this chapter to everyone who reviewed? Yeah. I was feeling like they all need a big hug. –hugs- And so I did that. I might do that again next chapter, or I might just give it to the first reviewer. I don't know yet. But really, you should review cos that makes me happy, eh? And you might get a dedication, how fun?! Haha. Ok. Peace.**

**-Lady Carmilla, out.**


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Disclaimer:** I don't own HP, unfortunately.

**I dedicate this chapter to:** Everyone that isn't going to kill me for making them wait so long. I'm soooooooo sorry, loves. And also, _Shelby_, cos she reviewed first. :)

**-Chapter Sixteen-**

"Guess what?!" Sirius asked as he bounded into the dining room. He stopped in his tracks, though, when he saw Lydia and Adena sitting at the table looking grave. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Adena said quickly, as he walked over to them. He eyed her suspiciously.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me," he said pointedly, as he sat down across from them. "So. What's up?"

"Nothing," Adena insisted. "I- I just don't really feel good."

Sirius started to say something, but was cut off as Dot came scurrying back into the dining room with their food. Adena sighed gratefully, as the small house elf reached up and set their food in front of them.

Adena looked down at the steaming vegetable soup, and she could feel her mouth watering as she picked up her spoon and started to scarf it down. She smiled as the warm broth slid down her throat, warming her pleasingly.

She finished the soup quickly and looked around to see Lydia eating her soup at a much slower, more reasonable pace. Sirius was watching Adena with an unreadable expression upon his handsome face. She tilted her head in question, but he turned his gaze from her to the elf that came back with more food. Adena followed his gaze, and sat up straight at the sight of the elf laden with food. She smiled happily.

"So," Adena said casually as she started in on her latest course. "What was it you were so excited about when you came running in here, anyways?"

"Oh," Sirius said distractedly as he watched Adena tear apart a freshly baked roll. "I was just going to tell you something…"

Adena waited, expecting him to continue, but when he didn't, Adena swallowed a mouthful of food and urged him. "Go on…"

"Oh," Sirius said suddenly, and he looked at Adena as thought just seeing her for the first time. "What?"

Adena sighed impatiently. "Sirius, what's up? You seem…. Distracted."

"It's nothing. I'm fine…" he said, focusing on a point on the wall above Adena's head. When he looked back at her, his eyes seemed guarded. "It's Christmas Eve..."

Adena stopped what she was doing and gaped at Sirius. "I… What? No it's not!"

"It is," Sirius said with a nod. Lydia squealed slightly from beside Adena. They looked at her curiously.

"It's Christmas Eve, Addy!" she told them happily. "_Tomorrow is Christmas!" _

Adena shook her head at the blonde and turned back to Sirius, her eyebrows furrows. She didn't understand what was going on with him. There was no reason, that she could figure, that would make him look so sullen, so distracted, on Christmas Eve. If anything, Adena could only see him being happy and excited, much like Lydia.

Then, suddenly, it hit her like a brick. She gasped, and her eyes widened, not only in shock, but also in fear. She looked at him and thought she could feel the tears coming on. She started to shake her head wordlessly. She couldn't speak.

"Adena?" Lydia asked, worriedly. "Adena, what is it?"

"Sirius," she said quietly, ignoring Lydia. "_What happened at the Ministry_?"

Sirius glanced at her, his grey eyes were anxious. He knew he couldn't lie to her, even if he thought it was for her own good.

"They can't…" he began.

"They can't _what_, Sirius?" Adena demanded.

"There's nothing they can do," he said quietly, not meeting her eyes. Adena stood quickly from her seat, knocking it over in her haste.

"What?!"

"They can't do anything to him, he's already in the minister's pocket, and the prat hasn't even been out of Hogwarts for ten years," Sirius said acidly.

Adena looked blankly at Sirius. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. They couldn't do _anything_ to him? After everything he said, after everything he'd done, they couldn't see that Lucius Malfoy was _not_ on their side? She kicked the air.

"NO," she said loudly. "No, no, no, no!"

She started to walk blindly towards the back door, though she had no real destination in mind. She just needed to get away. She didn't notice the tears streaming down her face until she'd stepped out into the cold December afternoon, and they were tweaked with cold.

She wiped her hand across her face, but only spread the cold tears around as she started blindly towards the street.

She didn't even hear the anxious voice that was following her. She barely registered the arms that wrapped protectively around her, and she didn't notice that she'd stopped walking. Not until she heard his voice.

"Adena," he whispered sadly, snapping her out of her daze. She blinked up at Sirius' worried countenance, trying to control her tears, and silent sobs. She buried her face into his warm chest shamefully.

"Adena," he repeated as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. "I know it's-"

"No," Adena said sharply, pulling back with sudden anger. "You _don't_ know, Sirius."

Sirius looked taken aback, to say the least. He started to say something, but she cut him off once more.

"You have got _no_ idea," she told him darkly.

"Ad-"

"He. Killed. My. _Parents_!" she half-shrieked, throwing her arms up hysterically.

"I know, Adena, and I'm sorry," he said before she could interrupt him again. "I really am. You don't deserve _any_ of this, and you have to know that we're not giving up. Mr. Potter is not going to give up; he's down there now. And you can bet Dumbledore will be behind you one hundred percent."

"Mr… Mr. Potter? Really?" she asked quietly, through more tears.

"Of course," he said, pulling her back into his embrace.

"B-But he hardly even knows me…" she said, thoughtfully.

"Adena!" He said with scolding. "You think that he wouldn't help an innocent and victimized girl just because _he doesn't know her_?"

Adena made a noise that could pass as an agreement as she attempted to bury her head further into his chest. He chuckled lightly before starting to walk with her back towards the house.

"C'mon," he said softly. "It's cold out here."

She sighed and let him lead her back into the warmth, which enveloped her pleasingly. This was going to be an interesting Christmas.

----------X----------

Adena sat curled up on the window seat in her dark room. Her knees were pulled tight against her chest, and her forehead was resting against the cold glass of the window as she watched the street below her.

It had only been a few hours since Sirius had broken the news to her; only a few hours since he reminded her of the day. She still couldn't bring herself to accept either things.

Across the street, a little girl and her mother were building a snowman on their front lawn. Adena watched sadly as the mother threw a snowball at the girl, taking her by complete surprise. The girl looked scandalized as the mother laughed heartily.

Adena longed to be that little girl. She looked so happy and carefree…

The lump that had started in her throat only increased as a man stepped from inside their house, bundled up in his winter's best, and joined them; the girl's father. Adena's body shook with remorse as she watched the family playing frivolously in the snow.

She felt a pang at her heart as she watched the husband reach out and grab his wife. He kissed her softly and the girl's slight disgust at her parent's display was obvious. Tears poured down Adena's cheeks as she remembered feeling the same as that little girl did when she had watched her own parents do nearly the same thing throughout her life.

At the time, she had thought she would do _anything_ to not have to watch her parents being in love, now she realized she would give _everything_ to get that back. She closed her eyes and pressed the side of her face completely against the cold glass, her tears mixing with the condensation on the window.

How had this happened to her? _Why_? Why her, why _her_ parents, why any of this? She realized angrily that it all came back down to one person: Voldemort. She closed her eyes tight, trying to stop the angry tears; he didn't deserve her tears.

She stood from her seat suddenly. She walked towards her bed where her backpack lay, dumped out. She rummaged through its contents until she found a small leather-bound book. She opened it slowly, her eyes scanning the first page.

She smiled fondly at the familiar picture it contained. It was of her and her parents at her favourite park back home. She looked down at her 6-year-old-self with sad eyes. In the picture, she was perched on her father's shoulders, as her mother laughed merrily. She noticed that her own emotion in the picture, as she bounced up and down with laughter, rivaled that of the little girl across the street.

Adena stopped herself as she was about to turn the page once more. She had to stop this. She couldn't just sit back and dwell on the past, while the future got slowly more and more mucked up. Adena sighed and pushed the book back into her bag, along with everything else she'd dumped out of it.

Adena stood from her elegant four-poster bed and shuffled to the door. Someone would probably come looking for her, if she didn't show her face again soon.

Adena was saved the trouble of finding her friends as Lydia met her on her way downstairs. The girl could only adequately be described as simply _vivacious_. She was radiating excitement, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she walked towards her friend. Her face lit up at the sight of her.

"Adena!" she squealed. "Snowwwwwwwwwww!"

Adena couldn't help but laugh at the way her friend drew out her syllables when she was excited; Lydia loved snow.

"It's snowing! Let's goooooooo! We'll….. Build a fort or something…" she suggested cheerfully.

Adena smiled and nodded her willingness.

"Ok, love," she said with a laugh. "But where are the boys? I bet _they_ want to play in the snow."

"They're already outside," Lydia informed her happily as she pulled her down the stairs.

Adena and Lydia quickly bundled up and head out the back door in search of the boys. They stepped outside cautiously, figuring it wouldn't be unlike the Marauders to ambush them and pelt them with snowballs.

Adena tiptoed into the Potter's vast and snow covered backyard, with Lydia close behind her. She looked anxiously around but breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted their friends in the distance.

Adena stopped suddenly, causing Lydia to run into her friend with an, "_Uf!_" Lydia looked annoyed until she saw the devilish look adorning her friend's face.

"What, Adena, _are_ you planning?" she asked with a grin.

"Well, my dear, I'm thinking we _attack_," she said with a smirk, it was instantly mirrored on Lydia's face. Adena grabbed Lydia's arm and pulled her unceremoniously in the cover of some trees. "They can't know we're here."

Lydia nodded and they started to plot.

----------X----------

"What happened to Lydia?" James asked, looking curiously around. "She was supposed to go get Adena like, 20 minutes ago."

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging and continuing to pack snow onto their fort. James eyed him suspiciously.

"Speaking of Adena," James added casually, causing Sirius to stop moving. He listened closely but didn't look at James. "What's going on with you two, anyway?"

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it again. He turned to James. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid with me, Black," James said, his tone surprising Sirius slightly. "She slept in your room last night."

"Well, yeah… She came to me saying she couldn't sleep and that she was feeling paranoid, I couldn't just kick her out," Sirius answered evenly. James eyed him as he turned over some snow in his hand. He was dissatisfied with his friend's answer, but he decided not to press the subject.

Suddenly, Sirius sat straight up, and he looked around, surveying the back yard around him quickly.

"What is it, mate?" James asked, looking around nervously.

Sirius didn't answer at first, but continued to look around. "I… I thought I heard something but-"

And then, out of no where, Sirius was cut off as he was hit directly in the face with a snowball. When the snow cleared off, he could only look around in shock. He looked at James, who looked just as surprised as he felt, but a little more amused.

The amusement, however, drained from his face as he too was hit in the face with a snowball. Sirius started to quickly form snowballs beside him, not wasting time to locate their attackers, they'd need ammo first. James joined suit, looking nervously around.

"Where are they?" he asked with frustration, as he managed to dodge a snowball coming for his head.

"I don't know!" Sirius said, as he was hit in the arm. He scanned the snow around them. There was no sign of the girls. He continued to make and dodge snowballs, getting hit everyone once in a while.

Then, suddenly, without any warning it stopped. Sirius didn't move for fear that if he did, it would somehow trigger the snowballs once more. He looked at James, who looked just as puzzled as he felt.

Then, as suddenly as they stopped, they'd started again. Except this time, the snow was coming at them more frequently and abundantly, and from pretty much all sides. Sirius narrowed his eyes, dodged a few snowballs, and bent low next to the otherwise useless fort wall. The next time James looked over at his friend, all he saw was a black tail whipping out of sight.

James groaned and hid closer to the ground, not sure if he should even try to fire back at them, wherever they were.

Sirius moved swiftly. He meandered through the snow, trying to pick up on any scent he could. Finally, he perked up as he caught something and followed it. The scent, he saw triumphantly led him directly to Lydia and Adena, who were peaking over the top of their own fort. He watched as they flicked their wands, sending the snowballs towards his abandoned friend. They burst into laughter as they heard James' startled cry at being hit.

Sirius changed quickly back into his human form, and grabbed a handful of snow whilst inching ever closer to the girls before him. Once he was close enough, he reached out and grabbed the closest one, throwing the snow down the back of her shirt.

Adena screamed with surprise, then stood and began to hop around, trying to get the snow out.

"Sirius, ah! Black.. Ahhhh!" she yelled between jumps once she'd spotted Sirius. He laughed and tried to put more snow down her shirt. She screamed and hit him as Lydia backed away from them, hoping to escape the assault unnoticed. She snuck off to the boys' fort, hoping as she went that James would abstain from attacking her.

"Sirius!" Adena laughed as he reached for more snow. She picked some up as well, and pushed it into his face before he could stop her.

"Argh!" he pushed her over and she grabbed his collar by reflex, pulling him roughly down with her. She fell into the snow with a thump, and Sirius fell onto her, knocking the wind out of her, slightly. She caught her breath, and made a face at Sirius, who laughed and threw some more snow in her face. She hit him, and tried to do the same, but Sirius soon grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head.

He smirked mischievously down at her, and though she stuck her tongue out at him, her insides were squirming anxiously, and her heart was beating so fast, she was surprised he couldn't feel it through her chest.

She took no notice to the wet snow that was now starting to seep through her clothes as Sirius leaned closer to her. Her breath hitched in her throat as he moved until Adena could feel his warm breath tickling her cheek softly. He kissed her jaw lightly and she smiled at the pleasantly familiar feeling of his lips on her. She laid her head back and looked up at him from beneath her thick lashes, willing him to kiss her again.

Sirius looked down at her, his heart beating fast. She had no idea how gorgeous she was when she looked up at him like that. He moved closer to her once more, they were mere inches apart. For a moment, he paused, but Adena took the liberty of closing the gap as she moved forward and met his lips hungrily.

Sirius was a little surprised, but responded quickly, savoring the feeling of his lips on hers. Sirius ran his tongue along Adena's lip, and she shivered, parting her lips willingly.

They continued until it was quite necessary to breathe. Sirius pulled reluctantly away, breathing hard, the cold air stinging his lungs slightly. Sirius moved his hand to cup her face, his rough thumb running over her newly warmed bottom lip.

Adena closed her eyes and smiled at his touch. She opened her eyes curiously as Sirius moved his hand from her face, but was pleased as he replaced it with his lips. He kissed the corner of her mouth, lingering slightly, he kissed her only briefly on the lips, though, as they both heard a sound that made them try and jump apart quickly.

**AN: Dun dun dun…… Such a cliff hanger. I'm sorry……. . I shouldn't do that to you, I know. Since I suck at updating, and it's been like two bloody months. I'm soooooooooooooo sorry. But this one's nice and long. 3,000 words. It's like a late Christmas present….. Which I'm also sorry about, because since this was taking place on Christmas Eve, I wanted to have it up by Christmas Eve, but I suck, so I'm sorry. And if I work at it, maybe I can put up the next chapter relatively fast, cos that's what I really want to do. In fact. I'll go work on that now, and leave this where it is. Except one more thing.**

**I've made it to 100 reviews, and I would just like to thank EVERY one of you that reviewed. Some of you for every chapter, and some of you for just one. It's all good. I appreciate any review you give me and I want to thank you all for sticking with my story. I love you guys. :)**

**Love forever, Lady Carmilla.**


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Disclaimer: **You know what's mine.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **Every single faithful reader that doesn't hate me for not updating in a million years. Love you guys! But also, _LolaCherryColaGirl__, _to whom the dedication rightfully belongs, as she was thee first reviewer.

**-Chapter Seventeen-**

James and Lydia waited cautiously in the boys' fort, not sure what to expect of Sirius and Adena. Were they going to combine forces and try to conquer them, or would they wait for their next move? They couldn't be sure.

Lydia squinted into the distance, trying to focus her eyes on the bright white fort in the middle of the bright white field. Suddenly, she saw a foot amid the white. As she looked closer, she noticed two feet… Two feet that certainly did not belong to the same person.

"What the…?" Lydia breathed.

"Huh?" James asked as he moved to see what she was looking at.

"Oh my God!" he yelled suddenly. "What's going on over there?!"

"I… Don't… know…" Lydia whispered in horror.

"They're not like… _dead_, are they?" James asked as they watched the feet shift slightly.

"Uhm, nah. I think it's safe to say they're not dead…" Lydia told him.

"Well, come on then!" James said, standing up.

"What? Why?!" Lydia asked, sounding as thought going over there was the last thing she'd ever imagined doing.

"Because…? I don't know," James said with frustration. "I don't think we should just let them… You know… though…"

"'_You know'_? No, James. I don't think I _do _know. And in any case, if they want to… Lay in the snow with their legs tangled together," she shuddered slightly at the thought. "Then let them!"

"……………….."

"James," she said in a warning tone.

"But…."

"No," she said firmly. James looked at her for a moment, then stood quickly and took off for the enemy fort.

"James! No… Bad James! _Bad_!"

Lydia sighed with frustration before following after him. He stopped just before the fort and coughed loudly. Lydia hit his arm as they heard rustling from behind the fort wall. Suddenly, Adena appeared from behind the fort, looking frazzled.

"Uh, hey… guys…" Adena said, her face red with embarrassment. She dragged a hand self-consciously through her now damp hair.

"Hello, Adena," Lydia said conversationally. "Successfully… erm, _capture_ an enemy?"

Adena blushed harder. "Well-"

"What're you doing over here?!" Sirius asked suddenly, from behind Lydia and James.

"Sirius!" Lydia said, turning to him in surprise. "What… Weren't you…?"

She gaped openly at him while pointing to the fort behind Adena. James, however, narrowed his eyes with suspicion while Adena tried to hide her own surprise casually.

"You guys ruined our plan," Adena said suddenly. Everyone turned to look back at her. Sirius, who was still behind James and Lydia, looked at her questioningly.

"We were going to ambush you," she continued evenly. "Sirius went that way to get you from over there; I was going to… Make some more snowballs and follow him when you showed up, ruining it all. Thanks."

Everyone was quiet for a moment while they contemplated this. Sirius looked impressed.

"Oh," Lydia said thoughtfully. "Well, then…"

"Yeah, thanks," Sirius said with a grin as he moved around them to stand next to Adena. He folded his arms across his chest and looked at them with mock disappointment. He glanced cautiously at James, figuring he wouldn't buy this. James' eyes were narrowed once more. Sirius saw with a slight cringe that he was right, and that it was very likely that James would corner him lately for an interrogation.

Adena was about to say something else when they heard a voice calling them from the house. They squinted towards the house as they heard the voice again.

"C'mon," James said with a sigh, "dinner's ready."

--X--

After dinner, Adena and Lydia ended up in Adena's room, talking in hushed tones about what had happened before dinner.

"I'm telling you, Adena, he seemed _jealous,_" Lydia said seriously as she lay on her stomach on Adena's bed, her feet bouncing quietly off the headboard as she talked to her friend, who sat across the room, curled up in the big arm chair by the fire.

"No way," Adena replied defiantly as she stared into the fire beside her. "He's just… No. He's like a big brother to me, is all. _You_ had a big brother, and you know he was like that before."

Lydia looked at Adena with a sort of hurt surprise, and Adena immediately regretted bringing her brother into this. She knew better than anyone that it was a sore subject for her.

"I can't-"

"No, I'm sorry, Lydia. I shouldn't have said that…"

"You're right, though," Lydia said sadly. "Before… Before he… changed, he was like that."

Adena bowed her head at the thought of Lydia's older brother, Jacob. The sweetly handsome boy who'd charmed his way into the hearts of many, including her own, before he became interested in the Dark Arts and left them.

"Anyways, it's clear he's in love with Lily," Adena said after a while. Lydia nodded as she gazed out the window. Adena sighed. "I'm sorry for bringing him up, Lyd."

"No, it's alright," she said, "I've been thinking about him a lot lately, anyways…"

She rested her head on her crossed wrists and gazed into the fire beside Adena, quickly losing herself in her thoughts.

--X--

"What the hell was that?" James asked Sirius as soon as his bedroom door shut.

"What?" he asked smugly.

"You know exactly what."

"You, my friend, sound jealous," Sirius informed him with a smirk.

James looked appalled. "I am not_ jealous_. I'm just looking out for her best interest."

"What," Sirius started, raising an eyebrow, "you think I'm not in her best interest?"

"I don't want to see her get hurt," James said through clenched teeth.

"Why would_ I_ want to hurt her?" Sirius asked, sounding obviously offended.

"Right, like you've never hurt any other girls in your life?" James asked with a humorless laugh. Sirius glared at him.

"This is different," he said stiffly. James snorted. "Adena… She's not_ like_ other girls. Therefore, you cannot compare her to other girls."

"That's not what I meant. Of course she's not like other girls, but that doesn't mean you might not hurt her."

"Whatever, I don't want to fight with you about this," Sirius said quietly. "I'm not going to hurt her, so stop worrying, mate, you're getting wrinkles," he added with a slight grin.

"What?!" James asked, feeling his forehead. Sirius laughed, making James glare at him. "Shuddup."

Sirius shook his head and left James to brew in his thoughts. On his way to the stairs, though, he heard a voice that made him stop.

"Sirius," the voice said again, from behind him. He turned to see Adena looking curious.

"Oh, hey Fire Maiden," he said with a smile. Adena's heart skipped a beat.

"W-Where are you headed?" she asked, cursing her sudden nervousness.

"Kitchen," he informed her. "I need a drink."

"A _drink_ drink, or just a drink?" Adena asked casually.

"I'll let you know once we get there," he said with a wink as he turned towards the stairs again. Adena looked after him curiously before following him.

Once they reached the kitchen, Sirius pulled out a barstool at the island in the center of the kitchen and motioned for Adena to sit as he moved to get two glasses. He set them down in front of her and stood on the other side of the island as if he were the bartender.

"What'll you have?" he asked as he waved his wand, opening the cabinet behind him, and he motioned towards the liquor as if she was a contestant on a game show.

"Really?" she asked nervously, as she looked around.

"Really," he said with a grin.

"Well… In that case… Fire Whiskey, please."

"Wah-ho there. You're tougher than you look," he said, admiringly as he raised the Fire Whiskey from the cabinet with his wand, and with a flick of his wrist the warm liquid was poured into the two glasses before him.

He raised his own glass and waited for Adena to do the same. When she did, they clinked glasses, the sound resonating throughout the kitchen.

"Cheers," Sirius said happily before downing his whiskey.

"Cheers," Adena repeated as she followed suit, the whiskey heating the back of her throat in that pleasingly familiar way. She smiled as warmth flooded through her body.

"My, my, Miss Sanguina," Sirius said, sounding impressed. "Never would've pegged you as a whiskey girl."

Adena smirked. "Well, Mr. Black, you really shouldn't've pegged me as anything. I don't reckon you know all that much about me."

"Of course I know stuff about you…" he said defensively. And he realized that she was right. In the nearly four months they'd known each other, besides the few times they'd talked about their families, they'd never really learned much about each other.

"What's my favourite colour?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Purple," he said confidently.

"Lucky guess," she mumbled, he grinned.

"What's mine?"

"Erm….Black?" she asked hopefully. He chuckled.

"Blue," he told her.

"Well… That's close to black…" she said defensively. Sirius chuckled and shook his head.

"Not the blue _I_ like," he told her.

"Oh yeah? And what blue is that?"

"The blue of your eyes," he said softly. Adena couldn't help but blush a little at that.

"Sirius…" she said, not meeting his eyes.

"Yes?" he asked hopefully.

"I'll need more whiskey before _that _works," she said, finally meeting his eyes, she smirked, making him chuckle.

"Drink up, then," he said jokingly as he poured her another drink. She raised an eyebrow at him before taking the glass from him and drinking its fiery contents. She set down the empty glass and looked up.

"Your turn," she said, cocking her head slightly. Sirius shook his head, but poured himself another glass anyways, downing it swiftly. Adena laughed, and Sirius looked at her with question.

"That's not what I meant," she said with amusement. "I guess that works, too, but I meant your turn to ask me a question."

"Oh…" he said sheepishly. Adena laughed again.

"Aw, you're so cute when-" she stopped suddenly and diverted her eyes. Sirius sat straighter in his seat.

"Wait, what was that?" he asked with a smirk.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Your move."

"Right," he said smugly. "Well. Are there any rules, or can I just ask whatever I want?"

"Mmmmm…" Adena thought for a moment, pouring them both more whiskey absently. "Rules are a drag. Anything goes."

She sipped on her whiskey now, as she waited for his question, savoring the strangely warm sensation it caused.

"Are… Are you a virgin?" he asked quickly. Adena choked on her whiskey a bit, swallowed it, then coughed a few times.

"_What_?"

"You said I could-" he started defensively.

"Ask anything you want. I know what I said," she mumbled, taking another drink.

"Well, I guess you don't have-"

"No," she said. "I'm not."

Sirius didn't say anything for a moment, took another drink, and then said, "Oh."

Adena snorted. "Disappointed?"

"No," Sirius said quickly. "I just…"

"You just _what_?" Adena asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, your turn," he said with another swig of whiskey. Adena eyed him for a moment, then rolled her eyes.

"What about you, stud?"

He snorted. "As if you haven't heard."

"Of course I've _heard_, but I don't _know_," she told him.

"I'm not," he said.

She shrugged. "See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" She took a swig of her whiskey.

"No, it wasn't. My question now, right?" he asked distractedly.

"Yep," she said with a smile.

"Ok," he said. He focused on her face, nearly losing himself in the sea that was her eyes. "If I kissed you right now, what would you do?"

Adena stopped moving, her arm hanging in mid air as she had been about to take a sip of whiskey, and looked at him. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and put down her glass. She opened her eyes to see Sirius looking at her warily.

She leaned across the island so that she was only a few inches from his face when she spoke. "I'd do this," she said, before kissing him fully on the lips.

--X--

Adena sighed and rolled over lazily, stretching her limbs as she opened her eyes slowly. Her eyes widened in shock. She sat up and quickly regretted it as the blanket she was snuggling beneath slipped off her naked body. She gasped and pulled the blanket back up.

She heard a slight rustling and turned to see Sirius roll over and look at her. He grinned.

"Hello, love."

"Holy fucking _shit!_" she said, burying her face in her hands. She regretted her outburst almost instantly, as her head throbbed. "Ah, shit!"

She looked at Sirius, he looked a little bewildered.

"Did, uh… Did we have drunken sex?" she asked casually. Sirius furrowed his brow.

"You don't remember?"

"You must not remember exactly how much whiskey I drank…" Adena said with a snort, causing her to wince and grab her head. She looked around. They were in the Potter's basement, lying on the floor in the middle of a bunch of blankets.

"_Shit_ this is _bad_," Adena breathed. She looked around frantically. "Where are our clothes? We need to get back to our rooms."

Sirius seemed to realize she was right, because he started searching with her. Once they found their clothes, they threw them back on and Adena started for the stairs.

"Wait," Sirius said, a certain sadness in his tone. Adena turned guiltily back to him. "You… You really don't-"

"Sirius," she said, walking towards him, she cupped his face, but to her surprise, he pushed her away.

"No, Adena, that means I- I took _advantage_ of you," he said, sounding ashamed.

Adena felt her jaw drop, "Don't be ridiculous. You think I didn't want it?"

"You didn't know what you were doing… You… I… I'm a horrible person…"

"Sirius," Adena said calmly. "You have to believe me," she said before kissing him softly. "I… I've wanted this for longer than I can remember."

"You wanted to have drunken sex that you wouldn't remember in the morning, with me?" he spat. "How lovely."

"Well, obviously I didn't want it to happen like this, but that doesn't mean-"

"Just go, Adena," he said as he crossed the arms over his chest and turned his back on her. She gaped at him.

"You… You are absolutely ridiculous, Black!" she yelled before stomping up the stairs.

**A/N: Ok, guys. Hey… .. I'm **so** sorry. I really really never wanted to leave such a gap between updates, but really, I never have time to type up my chapters anymore. With school, and tennis, and my being in my school's latest play. Sorry. I don't mean to make excuses. But yeah. I loveeeeeeeeee you guys, and am **way** sorry. Really. And I want to say it won't happen again, but it probably will. It's been a busy year. So. Hope you enjoyed this chapter….. At least a little. Thee whole drunken sex thing was kind of a spur of the moment thing…. Just like real life, I guess…. I had totally never planned on that being in here, but when I was writing, it just sort of happened…. So yeah. I have most of the next chapter written, I just need to type it, which is, undoubtedly, thee worst part for me. sigh We'll see.**

**Love, Lady Carmilla.**


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